Fix the Zombie
by Asfiction
Summary: A young, normal female engineer that lives her normal, organized, undead life in her colony... Until the Full Darks came. (Based off of PvZ heroes and PvZ Garden Warfare 2. I also am not good at summaries.)
1. Chapter 1

How do I define my life?

First of all, I am a zombie. Zombies fight against the plants in an endless battle. Plants fight for justice and the protection of their human caretakers. Zombies just fight for brains. Or so I heard of from a dimensional book. In this dimension, time was stuck for a year and both plants and zombies were sabotaged by darkness.

That darkness concealed itself within two creatures, who were soon named God Dave and God Zomboss, and hid away in a dark area of the world and covered our blue skies with darkness. Although they were outside of Shadow Burbia, their influence of malevolent and vile transformations on both armies still stood and plunged everyone into the deep, dark hole of misery.

After that year, a plant managed to kill the two gods and took control of the regions, breaking up the fight between the armies and bringing them together. Every plant and zombie would shred in fear of the mere thought of him.

His intimidation was widely known for making even his own teammates meg mercy. His strength was beyond imagination, and he was said to be very omniscient. Both plants and zombies abide by his rule, and none of them never dared to disobey him.

All that are loyal, of course.

A group of both plants and zombies grouped together and moved to a secret region to where there were no dark nights and dim mornings, opposed to all that of the darkness lurking in every inch of the planet. Those were survivors of the Dark Influence,the name of that time, and they are the only plants and zombies who were "Dimmers", half dark and half light.

No one was full light but our elder, Arcus, until that omnipotent plant came and sucked half the light out of him. Almost losing all his light, he managed to produce a large bolt of light energy that was strong enough to chase him and his band of full dark plants and zombies away.

Arcus said himself, "An evil one, Darker is. He's practically invincible to the energy I shot at him, even though I scarred him for life. He only left because he was most likely bored of my attacks, so I was lucky.. You stay alert, hear me?"

I'd nod slowly at the end of each lecture he gave me and walked back to the Colony from the old tree's resting place, quaked with the mere thought of spotting that plant in real life.

Everyone in the colony calls me Fix, a special name given only to rare female zombie dimmers who are stuck at the specific age of 14.5. I was supposed to be one of the younger workers who scout for food, but I was made during the graduation ceremony for most rangers and little workers.

With that being said, I couldn't attend until the next two years, since it takes a longer time for zombies to come of age when they are born than plants. I might be 14.5 but that's my body age. To take the class, I have to be 10 zombie years old. I am currently 3 zombie years old, the age where female zombies are considered to be old enough to own a house alone.

Regardless of age and rarity, I am still taught to manage the darkness, a skill all of our people must learn to survive. Most kids don't really have the ability to see in the dark yet, so most little workers receive special goggles that make night vision accessible. I am too young to have these goggles because I am not a little worker, and my eyes aren't really supposed to be used to electromagnetic waves like that.

Oddly, that is wrong. I can see in the dark without those goggles, perfectly. I have kept this a secret from everyone for a good while.

Speaking of that, "everyone", the Colony has many jobs and certain tasks for every plant and zombie, so the Colony was busy every day the sun came out. Everyone had a morning route, three daily tasks received from the Task Giver, and after those three tasks is free time, with every sunset resulting in bedtime.

The night was when the "Full Darks" woke up, so we just can't go out during that time. Plus, from what I heard, there were actually attacks by the Full Darks before I was born, not including the one from a century ago,. Every time I go to the Learning Facility, we go over the history of these attacks.

During the attacks, we go over a single rule. That rule is "no matter what time of day it is, everyone in the Colony must hide in their dwellings until further notice." There is an organization that defends us all while we hide, and that is the Colonial Defense Teams. The defense teams are really strong, from what I recall hearing, so everyone depends on them and their captain.

Regardless of the defense team's strength, some people don't make it in time to the Tree of Dwellings. People who don't make it usually are sucked dry of light or at worst times, blood, from rumors around the Health Facility. The last attack we had was five years ago, so I wasn't even born, but I never thought an attack could happen again, until now.

I began my unusual morning route. I'd start by waking up, then I'd wash up, get dressed and eat breakfast and lunch. I'd walk out my dwelling and follow the groups of people exiting the Tree of Dwellings. After morning routes, everyone goes to the town hall to receive their three daily tasks.

The line isn't always too long, since it was a 'scan and go ' process, but today, everyone was talking endlessly about the completion of the mission for more food, so it was slower than usual. The Pantry House was packed after the gathers came back, so I wouldn't be surprised about the other's excitement. Some, though, were worried.

They were all talking about the Spy, one of my caretakers. The spy was a one of a kind to everyone. He has even managed to sneak into the evil plant, Darker's mansion multiple times and find out anything that Darker's planning to do that has something to do with the Colony. He came back last night and reported that Darker planned a search for a special necklace.

Even worst, the report says that the search started long ago, so the necklace is definitely not in the darker quadrants of the planet. They must be targeting the Colony, since we were the only ones they didn't check. Due to this concern, everyone received the task to, "stay inside until further notice," as their final task.

This task had everyone who came out of the Town Hall worried, since everyone was receiving it. Some pondered about how bad the attack will be. Some just didn't care all together and went to do their two tasks. As I entered the Town Hall, I spotted the spy talking with the Mayor, who was panicking.

"We might be more involved in this 'search' than we thought… Did you get the number of warriors coming?" the mayor asked, hoping for a good answer.

The spy pulled out a small book, opened it and said, "The Band of Darkness, plus some backup in case of the defense team's early return from the other dimension."

The mayor dung his face into his hands in worry and asked, "What does the necklace look like?"

The spy flipped further into the book and closed it, replying, "I don't know… But I have a theory."

"What is it?" the Mayor asked in curiousity.

"There's a large painting on the wall in the sitting room, showing mysterious writing and a picture of a god…," the spy began to say, his voice getting quieter. I was too far ahead in line that I couldn't hear them anymore.

I was disappointed, since some people behind me were gasping and worrying about what they were saying. Before I could look back, I arrived at the Task Giver and scanned my phone over it. Then I entered the line of people who were exiting the Town Hall.

My first task was to help organize the new food we recently received in the Pantry House. I got to the short line of people entering the Pantry House soon enough, and just by looking through the windows, I saw that the place was packed with non-workers and little workers. All those plants and zombies constantly trying to find a place to put the food was devastating, but I could handle it, since most non-workers get this task.

As the line grew shorter, I marked my task as active and waited for the Door Speaker to authorize my job. The scanner scanned me and said, "Welcome, Fix. Sort Candy and Snacks Area. Five available snacks for the taking this time," the Door Speaker boomed as the doors jolted open.

I walked in as the cool air and the smells of sweet and spicy foods it carries with it rushed out of the door. The Pantry House was so colorful and lively, it puts the Plaza to shame. Nothing but the stinky cheese is suppose to smell bad. Even better, nothing ever goes bad in the Pantry house, so we don't have to worry about everything getting spoiled.

Everyone loved Pantry House, and I don't see why not. The Door Speaker even lets people who wants midnight snacks in and allows people a limited number of food to take with them, depending on their space in their snack boxes at home.

I never used my snack box that much, so I have five spaces available. But the best part about the Pantry House is the one Full Dark that supposingly hangs out in the attic. Not many people know her name because she never tells while she's out in the work area.

In order to get her out, people place a palooza of expensive cakes and pastries sitting next to the door to the staircase that leads to the attic. As long as she is still eating, she will stay down in the work area and either help store the retrieved food, tell stories about the Shadow Burbia and, If anyone ever gets that lucky, she may ask one person if they want to spend the night in the attic. The only catch was, the attic was pitch black, as if it was a void. She doesn't allow anyone to bring night vision goggles into the attic, because the light and energy it gives off would ruin her artifacts.

I personally never saw her, since I am always the 540th to the last person in line to the Town Hall everyday, so I always find a stack of empty plates near the door, like today. Most young zombies and plants get this job, so kids are always roaming around the Pantry House. The early kids are always lucky. Sighing from my little luck, I go back to help store the Candy and Snacks area. During this time, I ate two of my available snack slots and finished cleaning up the main floor.

My next task was to go back to my dwelling and clean it, a task usually given to most of the engineers since they like to build and create. I might be only 3 zombie years old, but I know how to make a teleporter, a concrete launcher, a few household appliances and my very own, moving carpet decorations.

Every time I entered my dwelling, I'd be greeted with my glowing carpet decorations, either making the carpet look like a lava lamp or a beautiful array of flowers or dots.

In my dwelling, these decorations were the only ones that were pretty dirty, so I turned all of them to motionless mode and started vacuuming them one by one. Once I finished cleaning up the last one, I switched them back to movement and mark my second task as complete. Now all I have to do is my third task: stay inside until further notice.

It was just a few hours before free time, so I decided to quickly make sure that the door could lock. Finding nothing else to do, I took off my solid gold necklace, something I smelted myself, and polished it.

It consisted of ten beautiful spheres of solid gold with a ruby for the front. It took me 14 human years to make it, so it was a very valuable piece of work. The string took the longest to make, exactly 13 years, since it takes a long time for the sheep in the farms to grow back their cotton.

As I polished it, people were coming back into the Tree of Dwellings so they could do their third task to stay inside. No one was looking forward to free time, today, I guess, since everyone was asking the infobot about it, and all they got was a no. I looked out the window. It was a really nice view of the Colony, from the main plaza to the wall of darkness that separated this patch of light from Shadow Burbia. The wall was so black, it was like a black hole.

Suddenly, I saw a large group of black figures come through the black wall and rushed into the Colony. I panicked a little, as everyone who was still doing work, proceeded to panic loudly, stop what they were doing and rush to the Tree of Dwellings.

The loud banging of footsteps against the stairs to each floor erupted throughout the tree. I looked out the window again. The minor defense team was there, fighting off the minor full dark soldiers and peashooters. The main defense team, though, was in another quadrant of the Colony, fighting off… A dragon?!

The quadrant wasn't that far out of view, so I could clearly see the dragon. It looked extremely powerful, and was destroying everything it touched. The main defense team was surprisingly not struggling, but they seemed to be getting pummeled by the dragon.

It was loud, too, and everyone screamed when it roared as they rushed up the staircase. I couldn't get my face off the glass, for I was too amazed on the effort that was being put into this 'search'. They went THIS far for a necklace?

Everyone apparently didn't care about whose dwelling was who's, so the Mayor and his daughter Marsha came barging in, starling me.

As I dropped to the floor in fear, the mayor said quickly, "I apologize for this, Fix, but we must stay together. Spy has went to help defeat the dragon so that the main defense team could come. Might I suggest we hide in the closet?"

I got up and sighed in relief, then I nodded vigorously and opened the closet for them. The Mayor and Marsha got in when I heard the door threatening to be opened.

"It won't budge!", a slightly loud but soothing voice said.

"Duh! What did you think, they'll let us in without a problem? Use context clues, Hades!" a harsh, and annoying voice cried afterwards.

"Whatever! Bust it open!" the soothing voice continued to say.

The Mayor quickly got out the closet and the opened the big window. "Quickly, to the secret compartment!" he cried, climbing out.

Me and Marsha rushed out of the closet. Marsha crawled out the window after her dad. After a minute of listening to the door get banged on, Marsha helped me out the window after helping her dad open the secret room in the side of the tree.

My body was halfway through the window when the door burst from its fastenings and flung straight above my head and out the window, landing on a full dark soldier, who fainted from the impact.

My legs were grabbed and I was pulled back into my room, Marsha losing her grip on my arms. I was tossed into the middle of the room, where my carpet broke my fall, gladly, and I got up to look at what I was dealing with. A large bonk choy and a large chomper was looking at me.

"You scared the poor girl! Apologize!", the chomper shouted, smacking the bonk choy.

The bonk choy, shook off the pain, rolled his eyes and said with a sarcasm, "I am sorry, lil weakling." I frowned at him with the chomper.

He then pulled out an orb and spoke into it, "I think we found it. …then why don't you get over here and stop ordering your dragon to kill people? ...Whatever. "

I had burst into tears, rolling up into a ball and weeping for my life. I had to convince Marsha to stop trying to save me, since she kept poking her head into the window and the full darks in the room looked very powerful.

The chomper had wrapped me in her vine like arms and was comforting me so I could stop crying. For some odd reason, I felt much safer around her, and I felt like I knew her from somewhere…

"What did he say?" the chomper asked.

"He's coming, okay?" the bonk choy replied, annoyed.

"I wanna keep her," the chomper said, kissing my head. I smiled at her, and she smiled back.

"Don't dream on it, Hades. He's most likely going to tell you to kill her," the bonk choy hissed back. My smile dissolved as I began to tremble hard. Who in the world are they talking about? Why would they want to kill me?

"Don't be like that, sweetie. Blood is a douchebag anyway," the chomper said after rolling her eyes to the bonk choy's statement. The bonk choy glared at her.

The chomper continued to say, "I can't promise you won't get hurt, but I can assure you that you will be okay, alright?" I nodded slowly as someone teleported into the room.

The scariest plant I had ever seen.

He was a mushroom hero, but I've never thought someone who was ninja like could be so scary. The end of his scarf was breaking part, but never shortened, and his flat pileus had a brutal bite mark on the edge. What made him stand out was his eyes. One eye was covered by his pileus, since it was slanted slightly, but that didn't fix the fact that his eyes were black with a glowing yellow pupil. Even worst, he had scars, no, blood red cracks that trailed from his eyes into the scarf. The same scars were on his right hand.

"Where is the necklace?" Even his voice is scary.

"It's on her neck! Where else?", the bonk said.

The mushroom smacked him, and the chomper held her giggle for a second. I didn't think it was funny. I tried to make a run for the window before the mushroom could approach me, but you won't believe how fast he grabbed me by my beloved necklace. I was choking.

The chomper stomped her leaves and cried, "Don't kill her! How the heck am I going to get a new shopping buddy if you kill her?" I like this chomper already. She's so much nicer.

The mushroom looked at the chomper and sighed, "I don't care."

The chomper frowned and snapped back, "I don't care, either. Clip it off at least."

"Hades, why are you so mother like?" the bonk choy asked. The chomper then proceeded to toss the bonk choy out the window.

"We already have enough slaves, so no, I will not spare her," the mushroom proceeded to say.

The chomper cried back, "She doesn't need to be a slave! She has value!"

The mushroom loosened his grip on my necklace, letting me breath for a bit, and snapped back, "Your value in her doesn't matter to me. Like I said: I will not spare her. She'd be better off in heaven anyway." I wanted to get mad at that, but at the same time, I was too scared to do so.

"You're so mean. If Shadow were here-" The mushroom quickly threw a spear of poison at her, in which she dodged, and it slammed into my TV I just got. So much for that.

"Speak of her again, and I will choke you."

The chomper stomped her foot and shouted. "What's that gonna do but ruin the honor you were raised by?! Would your father dream of hurting a woman?! Is this what you want him to see when he looks down upon you from heaven?!"

It was silent for a minute. Then, the mushroom cut the string of my necklace in half and crushed the ruby. I was heartbroken. Those 14 human years all for this?! Why is this plant so mean?!

The bonk choy came back soon enough. "Blood, kill this girl. Hades, we need to talk."

The chomper replied, "That sucks. Have fun doing nothing, Blood."

The bonk choy gave the chomper a confused look as she and the mushroom teleported to somewhere. I was confused, too, but having heard that the mushroom wants me dead…

Bonk choy cracked his knuckles, "Welp, girly girl, he wants ya dead. Any last words?"

All I could do was run for the window. I was choking on my own fear to speak, and I was heartbroken at the same time. That necklace was everything to me. The only thing I had left from my mysterious mother who had left the blueprint for me and this is what happens? This was crazy.

I was grabbed once again. "It won't hurt if you think about good things. I really don't feel like hearing you scream."

I struggled out of his grip, but to no avail did I escape. I felt something get stuck into me, as if it were poison, but I didn't believe it was the bonk choy. Am I seriously going to die like this?

"Release her!" The door suddenly swung open. The captain of the major defense team burst inside. The bonk choy dropped me.

"Go, Fix! To where it's safe!"

I quickly jumped out the window and landed on a potato mine hero. I bounced off of him and landed in the main plaza, surprisingly. I ran past all the full darks, who immediately gave chase to me, and ran through the gates of the Colony. This is when I realized that I was being chased by full dark toxic peas and super commandos.

I could've sworn I died.

I was getting shot at every inch I ran. I had lost track of where to go and where I was due to fear, and only ran until I couldn't hear shooting anymore. I couldn't breathe properly and I suffered from the burns the splashing toxic gave off, so hot and painful. I swore I died when I lost consciousness. Being dead wasn't so bad, right? That mushroom wanted me dead anyway. I guess you see darkness when you die…

Wait, am I facing up?

Why do I feel so… comfy?

Why do I feel so rejuvenated?

I sat up quickly from what felt like a dream and looked around. I was in a dark room, seemingly, but with my natural night vision, I was able to see the room clearly. It was illuminated dimly by cream colored lights, six on each level of stairs.

I seemed to be in a circular bed, and around the bed was a platform, and surrounding the platform was the stairs surrounding the entire thing, only leaving a view of the ceiling of the main room. It was close to impossible to see what was beyond the stairs.

"You're up?" a loud perky voice abruptly asked.

I jumped at the sudden perky voice erupting from somewhere beyond the top of the stairs. Suddenly, a full dark female zombie poked her head off the edge of the top of the stairs. She looked to be about the same age as me, only solid 14, so she was younger.

The girl came down the stairs while saying, "You've been sleep for thirty minutes. You were possibly knocked unconscious from the toxic fumes I found around you… But forget about that. You must be hungry. Come, I'm cooking dinner."

The girl helped me out of the bed, and lead me up the stairs. Apparently, the area I was just in was a bedroom in the form of a cone shaped pit, because beyond the top of the stairs was a very large room that contained sections of a normal house. There was a living area, a kitchen, a small library fused with a dining area, and a computer area. Each of these sections split the room in four sections, all ending at the bedroom pit. I have never seen such a beautiful room.

The only other door besides the beautiful antique front door was the one leading assumingly to the bathroom.

The girl noticed me looking around in awe. "If you want to poke around, you can. I still need to finish up dessert, anyway, so buy me some time. I hope you like cheesecake! I totally do!"

She knows me so well and I don't even know anything about her, not even her name. She doesn't know my name either! What a sidekick!

I explored the library first to see if there were any books different from the library back at the Colony. From my investigation, she had books on modern life and modern technology in the current city I was supposingly in, Shadow Burbia. She also had five different cookbooks that were bookmarked on five different recipes for five different types of cheesecake. I never saw recipe books in our Colony. Only the Pantry House chefs are said to have them.

I next look out the curtained window next to the front door. There was a hall crowded with Full Darks. I jolted back from the window.

"What's wrong?", the girl asked as she walked over to the library and grabbed the cookbook that contained, 'Zombopolis Style Cheesecake' in it.

"Am I really… behind the wall?" I stuttered, shaking in fear.

The girl then said, "What wall? The Wall of Dim? Have you been behind it? I heard the sun is out there. I never saw the sun, though."

I couldn't believe what she had said. "I live there…, " I replied slowly.

The girl jumped up in excitement and cried, "For real?! What does the sun look like?! Have you seen the sunlit moon? Is it hot out there? Does it rain?!"

I froze, trying to process what I was just asked.

The girl noticed my look and calmed down, saying, "Oh, sorry. I just never saw a dimmer before… Wait, you're not… I guess it doesn't always happen. I'll ask you questions when we eat, okay?"

I nodded in agreement and said, "Okay."

I looked back out the window. "Do you want to go to the roof to see Shadow Burbia from above? I always go up there to look at the Sunlit Moon. Sometimes, I got to see the sun rising. It's very beautiful. I sent a picture of if to my mistress, and she called it dawn. Is that what it is called?", the girl asked as she went back to the kitchen.

I nodded and replied, "We wake up when the sun rises, and do our morning route."

"What's your morning route? Mine is waking up in the morning, washing up, getting dressed, and eating breakfast." the girl explained, pulling out a cake pan.

I was surprised by this. I asked in shock, "Really? You don't eat lunch?"

The girl looked at me as if I were crazy. "No, of course not. Who eats lunch in the morning?", the girl said with a small chuckle in it.

I began to explain as she took out the ingredients for the cheesecake, "I usually eat both breakfast and lunch because the Pantry House doesn't send out dinner until 9:00 at night. I end my morning route at 10:20 every morning, and none of the tasks include eating lunch, so…"

"Tasks? Dinner at 9:00? A Pantry house?! What life in the name of Zatilenia are you living?", the girl asked, after pouring some flour in a bowl with brown sugar and cinnamon.

I knew the explanation of the complexity the Colony has was going to be long, so I asked her to slow down with her cooking and listen. I explained how every day goes, the town hall, the tasks, the Pantry House and the Tree of Dwellings. Then I noticed I still had my phone and showed her all the pictures I took.

She had stopped cooking and got a clipboard, and started writing furiously on that clipboard. She was writing so much, I felt sorry for the paper on the clipboard at one point. Once she stopped, she hooked her phone to her TV, a feature only rich plants and zombies in the Colony have on their TVs, and showed me pictures of her and her mistress. Her mistress was a full dark peashooter, from the looks of it.

"Being an apprentice of a true historian and a true woman of intelligence is amazing. I'm her best friend, too, and just a few weeks ago, she decided that she and her brother Darker is going to stop by every sunday morning for breakfast. I was so happy, I couldn't say no. Me and Darker actually became friends, too!", the girl explained, cheering at the end.

I cocked my head to the side. "Who's Darker?" I asked bluntly.

"He's a mushroom hero. He owns almost the entire planet, excluding the section where you're Colony is. Just a few hours ago, he got back from going in there. I wonder what happened…," the girl said.

I was frozen with fear. The mushroom's name was Darker…? "Darker? As in, 'killed the two gods', Darker?" I asked, worry filling my face.

The girl jumped up and cried, "Yeah! What an honor it is to have him as my friend. What's with the worried look? Do the people of the Colony not like him?"

I rubbed my wrist and said, "He… invaded the Colony an hour ago, came after my necklace and destroyed it. I worked on that necklace for 14 human years, too. Then he ordered me to be killed."

The girl was surprised. She said in shock, "He did all that?! How rude! I was told his father taught him to respect and care for women, plants or zombies. I guess that what he came to, ever since his father was killed."

"Who killed him?", I asked.

"Azuleno VI. She was the fourth test goddess daughter of Zatilenia. Ever since then, he had vowed to kill the next Azuleno." the girl explained.

"Poor goddess. I hope she doesn't die. I'm sure if she's a generation five, she will be a very nice person." I said.

Then I wondered why I said it for a second.

The girl shrugged and replied, "I don't how she'll die if she gets all of her powers. She's the goddess of invincibility. Anyway, I will continue the cheesecake recipe, so you can go to the roof. Just take the elevator to the left of my door. No one will notice you."

I crept out the front door and looked around. The hall was almost full, as if everybody was having a party in it, but gladly, it was still wide enough for me to walk around freely. The elevator was only a few meters away to the left, so I walked over to it. I was about to press the up button on the wall, until I was stopped by a disco zombie hero.

"Hey, pretty girl. You new here?", he asked, leaning against the wall, hovering over me. It made me feel short.

"Yeah… I was told to go to the roof to look around. Then I gotta go back to that girl's room." I explained.

The disco zombie looked at the girl's suite and replied, "What, that suite? Well, why not go together? I'll give you the lay down on everything." I followed the disco zombie to the elevator.

I couldn't believe how big Shadow Burbia is. It was miles larger than the Colony for a city with barely any high buildings. "First things first: That's Shadow Mansion, home of our ruler, Darker," the disco zombie said, pointing in a certain direction.

There was an enormous mansion sitting in the back of the city. It wasn't that far, but it was still pretty big, even from a farther view.

The disco zombie continued to say, "I live there, too. I'm part of the Band of Darkness."

I stopped gaping in awe and asked him, "How is it?"

The disco zombie shrugged and boasted, "Best place to live, if you decide that you can handle a few psychopathic girls. The only girl who doesn't let go of common sense is Darker's sister. He and her had this huge argument about the invasion. She lost that argument, but she still didn't give up until she hit him where it hurts: in his pride." I tilted my head.

The disco zombie looked at my confused look and explained, "Ya know, she said it in his face, 'you will disgrace the name of Tardinus if you pursue to destroy Zatilenia's necklace'. He almost punched her, but she stopped him and said, 'you will no longer be his son if you hurt me! What kind of brother are you?!' He didn't dare to touch her, but still went to the Light Colony to destroy Zatilenia's necklace. After the invasion, he punished Hades and locked himself in his room for the rest of the day. They're furious with each other, but they will be okay, though. They go on a sunday walk together every week, so tomorrow, they'll be brother and sister again."

"Tomorrow is Sunday?" I asked, looking at him as if he were crazy.

The disco zombie nodded and said, "Yeah, well, for us. The Colony probably is about to live out Saturday before Sunday begins. Anyway, let me tell you where the best restaurants are!"

The disco zombie hero chatted his way through an hour's worth of the city until it was time to go.

"Bye, pretty girl. Hope ya enjoy it here!", he cried, leaving the hotel once we got out of the elevator. I waved him goodbye and went back to the girl's suite in peace, since all the full darks that were here were gone now.

The girl was almost done with dinner. It seemed like she was kicking the spaghetti up a notch, from all of her dancing and flinging of spices.

When she noticed me, she jumped in fear, immediately stopped what she was doing and said, "Don't look! These are my super secret ingredients!"

I went to the couch and covered my eyes. What in the world was she putting in there? She was dancing and everything, as if she was a master chef. I tried to peek a little, only managing to lift up my index and middle fingers.

As if she knew, she cried back, "I know you're curious, but you can't look!" I groaned and covered my eyes back up.

After a few more minutes, she tapped my shoulder. I uncovered my eyes and got off of the couch. The girl then proceeded to escort me to the dining table. The spaghetti was beautiful. It even had that perfect sparkle in the sauce. From just looking at it, I knew it was going to be good.

"You can eat now. Just don't make too much of a mess," the girl stated before sitting in the antique chair.

I replied back calmly after sitting in the chair next to her, "I won't."

After we ate dinner, the girl requested that we take a bath before bedtime. The door to the bathroom was pitch black, as if it were a void instead of a door at all.

The girl nudged me and encouraged, "You can go in first. Just walk in. There's no door there." I glanced at her as if she was crazy.

"It's a thick curtain." she reassured.

I looked back at the door and walked up to the surprisingly pitch black curtains and pulled them back. Light shot out from behind the curtains, leading from the doorway to the edge of the stairs to the bedroom. I exclaimed in awe, wondering how she got away with this in the first place.

"Darker gave me the lights for my birthday, not to mention the whole bathroom. I really wanted just a little taste of how you dimmers live. It's a nice bathroom, though. Wanna take a shower, or a luxury bath?", the girl explained, walking into the bathroom.

I looked into the bathroom. There was a huge bathtub with a waterfall of hot spring water flowing into it. Even better than that, it had several decorations, and had buttons on the wall, all labelled with a different kind of herbal water.

"I have to try that bath…" I murmured, just loud enough for the girl to hear me.

She then cried, "Then it's bath time!"

Before I went to the bed pit, the girl tied a special string she got from a box in the bathroom to my wrist that glowed.

She explained, "Use it to build your necklace back. I'm sorry Darker broke it. But Luxury Thread never breaks, so you won't have to worry about it. Now, let's get some sleep. I need to send you out really early tomorrow."

Me and the girl had went down the stairs and hopped into bed. As we slept, I thought about one thing the girl told me during dinner. She said that it was exactly 10 miles from her hotel to the Wall of Dim. Our gate to the Colony was a meter from the wall, so I ran more than 10 miles, outran a bunch of Toxic peas and Super commandos, and made it to her back alley way in less than an hour. Was I really that scared?

Well, here I am, spending the night with a zombie girl, who is almost the same age as and has a lot in common with me at her magnificent hotel suite. The only thing I could dream about was my beloved necklace, crushed and crumpled, lying on the carpet of my floor. I hope it is okay in there…


	2. Chapter 2

The girl was making a big breakfast when I woke up and traveled to the bathroom to wash up.

"Hurry up, girly! You said you didn't want Darker to see you alive, correct?", she cried from the kitchen. I came out the bathroom in the dress the girl gave me that was too small for her.

"Yeah. When do they even come in the morning?" I asked, adjusting my pig tails.

The girl shrugged and replied, "From what it seems like, it's usually at random-"

We both were frozen solid as a gentle knock suddenly came upon the door. "W-who is it?", the girl asked in a nervous voice.

A woman-like voice responded, "It's me, Shadow. Do you mind opening the door? We just went shopping."

The girl looked back at me and grabbed the brushed I was holding. She quickly brushed my hair into a style that was straight with a flat bang, and told me to go to the bathroom, after running to get an outfit for me. Well, I guess I'm joining the breakfast party.

I heard the girl open the door. "Good morning!", she cried in respect.

The woman like voice responded, "Good morning to you, too… Who's in the bathroom?" The girl thought of something to say other than 'a mysterious girl that appeared at her back door.

"She's a good friend of mine. She came back to visit from living in the Colony," the girl said, glancing back at the curtains.

"She lives in the Colony? Most full darks are scared to go in there, even during their day." Darker's voice is still as creepy as it was when we first met. Oh, that horrible day….

The girl abruptly poked her head into the door and whispered, "What's your name?"

I jumped and stared at her for a minute, then realized that we were both exceptionally female and replied after sighing in relief, "Fix."

I couldn't tell if she tilted her head, or her head was loose and needed to be adjusted on her neck. "No last name?", she asked, just to be sure.

"I don't have a specific pair of parents, so no," I responded. She made a face that said, 'oh my gosh,' in all caps.

Then she loosened her face and said, "Damn. Anyway, I'm Boltoid Bonny. Hurry up and get dressed!"

I stomped my foot at her. "Okay!"

"...I only brought it cuz you punched Hades in the face and didn't apologize," I heard the woman say after Boltoid left.

"I did apologize, for your information. She probably lied to you again so you can get her a health pack, so she can heal," Darker snapped back at the woman.

The woman scoffed, "Either way, I want her to heal. She's a sidekick, ya know. Plus, you aren't suppose to go around hitting girls!"

"Is Hades okay?" Boltoid asked.

"No. Her teeth fell out. Now she can't defend herself," the woman explained.

Boltoid gasped and said, "That's a little sad."

Darker then said with sarcasm, "She'll be okay. Fire said doesn't like messing with her anyway."

I heard Boltoid say in response, "What does that mean- oh… Never mind. Fix!"

I was having a hard time putting on a sleeveless shirt I've never seen before. "I am struggling!" I shouted back, attempting to predict which way the silk shirt goes.

Boltoid came in and cried, "You said it shouldn't be hard to put on!"

I never said that, but I played along with what she was doing and said, "That was before I unfolded it. Plus, I'm from the Colony! All the girls wear dresses that are way more different than this!"

"Oh, I forgot. At least you got the shorts and the stockings on with the boots. Just slip the strap onto your shoulder where your arm is. Not your other shoulder but that one." Boltoid explained after helping adjust the shirt on me to make it easier.

I did as I was told. Apparently I can't put on this shirt the way I put on colonial dresses. That sucks.

Boltoid crossed her arms and observed me, saying, "There. Next time, put the shirt on over head instead of pulling it up from your legs. Come on."

I adjusted the shirt and followed her outside. "Wow. I thought she would never be able to put on a pair of shorts and a sleeveless shirt. I always see the woman of the Colony wearing nice dresses. Are you an engineer?", the female peashooter hero asked, who was apparently the owner of the woman voice.

"Yes." I answered, hiding how scared I was.

The peashooter then suggested, "You should've gave her overalls."

Boltoid stomped her foot and cried. "Overalls are forbidden in this suite!"

"Why?" Darker asked, giving her a confused look.

"They remind me of how my father looked, and I hated him! That's why I moved out a year ago," Boltoid said, crossing her arms and glancing at the picture on the wall in the dining area that had her, her mother, and her father with his face drawn out with markers.

"I remember that old coot. He's mean," the peashooter said, crossing her leaves as well.

"I'm going to finish breakfast. You guys can just talk for a bit if you want. Fix does tend to stay silent around strangers, though," Boltoid replied, walked back over to the kitchen. I can't believe she knows me so well…

"There's no need for that. Come, sit with us. Maybe you can tell us about your life in the Colony," Dark said, making room for me on the couch.

I was surprised that Darker didn't even realize that it was me, the girl he had ordered to be killed. The bang in my hair hid half of my eyes, so is that why? And why am I indicated as a full dark?

I sat next Darker and began my long explanation. I told them how everyone goes to the Task Giver in the Town Hall after their morning route. They do their three tasks and spend the rest of the day as their own free time. Every sunset was bedtime, after dinner of course. The two weren't that surprised, but they were interested.

"How organized. But I wouldn't dare change my society to match the organization you have to live in," Darker said, crossing his arms.

The peashooter added, "I enjoy their curiosity. It gets me wondering if they are brainwashed by that tree or not."

I looked at her in confusion. "What?" I asked in disbelief.

The peashooter noticed my expression and said, "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say that, if it offended you. I was just wondering..."

The peashooter began to explain, "The tree has hypnotic properties. He actually got me stuck in the society a hundred years ago, so Darker came to the Colony and wrecked havoc until he found me. That tree shot a beam of light at him, but since he's not affected by that kind of power, it hit me. Now I have to sit in the Colony for most of their day before coming back because I would lose my powers if I were to stay in the dark for a long time. I'm almost cured, though."

I replied awkwardly, "Oh... I hope you get well soon." How am I going to feel about Arcus now?

"Breakfast is ready! Come to the table everyone!", Boltoid cried after setting the last plate on the table. We got up and went over to the dining table to sit. I never saw a breakfast so beautiful. There were plates of sausages, eggs, pancakes, waffles, and other stuff I never seen before.

Boltoid started getting the drinks, while saying, "Some of this stuff is foreign to Fix, so I just made a little for her."

The peashooter tilted her head and asked, "Why?"

Boltoid then said, "She's one of those paranoid girls. See? She's having a staring contest with the hash browns!"

I was looking at the hash browns, because I've never seen them before, of course, but I was also afraid that they might be potatoes, something certain zombies in the Colony weren't suppose to eat. Those zombies weren't authorized to eat potatoes. Most who break that rule end up very sick, nauseas, or they just flat out die. Plants can't get sick, so they didn't have these rules.

"Wow," the peashooter said, taking a hash brown.

"Fix, you're embarrassing yourself," Boltoid said, crossing her arms.

I snapped out of my trance ad cried, "No I'm not!"

"Liar…," Boltoid mumbled.

I stomped my foot and cried back, "No I'm not!"

Boltoid face palmed and said, "Just take a hash brown."

I shyly rubbed my wrist. "What if it has potatoes in it?"

"Are you allergic to potatoes?" Darker asked.

"...What does allergic mean?" I asked. Everyone was silent for a few minutes.

Then the peashooter said, "It means, in simple terms, if you interact, or eat a kind of food or substance, you will probably get sick or most likely die."

I sighed and said, "Oh. Yes, I am allergic to potatoes."

Boltoid cried,"I asked you if you had allergies!"

I pointed an accusing finger a Boltoid, since she forgot what she said last night, and cried, "You said pollen!"

Boltoid stomped her foot and cried back, "Well, I'm sorry!"

"Poor zombies. They're the only ones who can get sick," Darker said.

The peashooter replied, "I know. Anyways, when are you going back to the Colony, Fix?"

"Just after breakfast." I answered.

"That sucks." Boltoid said.

"I guess it does?" I said, not knowing what to say.

"When is she coming back?" Darker asked.

Boltoid shrugged and replied, "She hasn't told me. But, she'll call me when she does, right, Fix…? Fix?"

I was still staring at the hash browns. Boltoid shook me and cried, "Fix!"

I snapped out of my trace again and quickly responded, "I'm so sorry!"

Darker assured, "Don't be, little one. You have all right to be scared of something that might kill you."

After breakfast, Everyone got ready to go. As we did, the peashooter suggested, "Could we walk you to the Colony? We don't want you get lost out here."

I nodded and followed the two plants out of the door, waving goodbye to Boltoid. The city streets weren't really as busy as it was when I went sightseeing with that disco zombie hero.

"Is there anything else that you're allergic to, Fix?" the peashooter asked. I thought about what else the Colony hadn't authorized me to eat or touch and shook my head.

As we got near the Wall of Dim, a full dark computer scientist had walked up to the two plants while I was walking behind them.

"Hello, sir." the scientist said.

Darker gave him a stern look and said, "Do you have any reports on that necklace?" I looked at the computer scientist, hoping my necklace was okay. The peashooter rolled her eyes.

The scientist replied, "It's broken, sir, and I can't get to it." It should be still in my room, hopefully…

"Fine. I'll ask the general to search for it tonight." Darker replied after facepalming. The computer scientist noticed me looking at a nearby fancy restaurant.

"Is she with you?" he asked.

I looked at him again, just to make sure he doesn't say anything about my true identity. Darker looked back at me and said, "Yes. She needs to be escorted to the Colony."

"I will do that, sir. Don't worry about it," the scientist assured.

"Okay. Make sure you're not carrying those chips again. I don't wanna find out you had them, nor that you killed her," Darker said, giving the scientist a knowing look. The scientist looked a little nervous. I smelled potato chips on him...

The scientist replied, "...I don't, sir. Come, little one."

After we crossed the Wall of Dim, I asked the computer scientist, "Why did you lie like that about the chips?"

"I can't go a scouting without something to eat! Plus, I was looking all over Shadow Burbia for you! You were with Darker and Shadow?!" the scientist cried.

"No, I was with Shadow's apprentice," I corrected.

The scientist explained. "Oh. Boltoid is good at keeping secrets. She'll never slip a word, so she's a friend. But you, walking among the one guy that ordered you to be killed! After I heard that the whole army came back trying to kill you, I got info that you were lightning fast and they lost you. But Darker doesn't care about you living or dying, so you're lucky."

I replied after short while of silence, "I... just need to get to my necklace, Magnet. I need to fix it!"

Magnet stopped me, shaking his head and saying, "No! Did you hear him? They're coming during the day to check if the necklace is still broken and bring it back. You can't fix it! If they found out that you fixed the necklace, you'll be targeted!"

I stomped my foot and shouted, "I don't care anymore! It's a present from my mom, the only parent I have that I don't even know the name of and I'm not giving it up!"

Magnet was silent. Then he replied, "Fine. But you better plan to find a way to get out of this, okay?"

I smiled and replied, "Okay! Now to fix my hair and get into my clothes!"

Magnet stopped me again and asked, "Oh, and another thing: Why in the world weren't you dimly glowing?"

I tilted my head and replied, "Hm?"

Magnet looked at me and said, "Dimmer's dimly glow in that place. I guess it happens sometimes?"

I shrugged and said, "I guess."

The Colony was dark in the middle of the night, with the exception of the Sunlit Moon and its stars. Full darks who were brave enough came into the Colony at night to explore. This was something the defense team couldn't stop, since they couldn't gather the courage to start a war at our night and their day. That would be a fight we couldn't win.

Magnet was one of my chosen caretakers from the Breeding Ceremony, the others being the captain of the Defense team, and the Spy. He doesn't stay with me a lot, but he does teach me at the Learning Facility. He helps me a lot, too, just as he is now.

"You know what, Fix? I need you to make another necklace. Your mother gave you the blueprint, remember? He's not after the blueprint!" Magnet replied.

I thought about what Magnet said and replied, "You're right, Magnet! I'll need a few bars of gold and a new ruby, though…"

Magnet whipped out a sack of something and said, "Gold, check. Ruby, check. And this is a special ruby that I saw falling from the sky. Now, hurry to your room and change out of that look. Oh, and do not touch that broken one. Leave it where it is, even if you get a task on it! I'll let the Task Giver know, though, just in case."

I traveled up the stairs to my dwelling and opened the door. Right there, in the middle of the room was the necklace, losing the original glow it had. The contents of the bag seemed to sparkle brightly, oddly. I ignored it, since gold and rubies are always shiny, set the sack next to the crumpled necklace and went to dress back into my clothes and hairstyle I originally had.

Little did I know that a red aura was traveling from the original necklace to the contents of the bag.

Once morning took over the Sunlit Moon, I started my normal morning route and went to the Task Giver. I was very early today, since I had an eventful night, so I was by myself when I got to the Task Giver and traveled to the Pantry house again. I always get this task, but I love it!

Since I was early, I could finally bring out the full dark hiding in the attic and talk to her, and maybe even become friends with her. I got several cheesecakes and set them next to the door as everyone came in and got to work. I turned to get to work until I heard footsteps on a pair of stairs.

The door opened, revealing the exact same peashooter hero that was with Darker the whole time.

"Fix? Is that you?" the peashooter asked while picking up a plate of cheesecake. I jumped, almost falling. Then I balanced myself and nodded.

The peashooter clapped her pods and replied, "What a pleasant surprise! You were an early bird, weren't you? I'll help you work. Where is your station?"

"I'm working on sweets and candies today." I said, pointed to the section.

The peashooter replied, "Alright, as long as you're not near any potatoes."

She was exceptionally faster at stacking than I would ever be. She was done within minutes, so my task was complete. I had that obvious face that said, 'oh my gosh' in all caps when she finished.

The peashooter noticed my expression and said, "It's been years since I started this labor thing. Anyway, hurry up and finish your other tasks, then come back here during your free time."

"Yes, ma'am!" I cried, saluting her.

My next task was to build something, so I went to my dwelling and went to the vault under my bed. There was a preserved blueprint in it that had a letter on the back that said, "Build this necklace, and I will always know where you are. -your mother." I had to build it again. If my mother can't find me, how will I find her?

It took me three hours to do it. With the luxury string, the necklace was able to stay in place and the ruby shined like a shiny fresh apple from the orchard. I set the necklace in my vault and immediately notice that the whole time, the broken necklace wasn't here. They really did come…

Since I had the "Build something" task, like most engineers do, I didn't have a third one, since time varies between our builds, so I headed back to the Pantry house, where the peashooter was saying goodbye to the group of people she just told a story to.

"Ah, hello, Fix. Come to the attic, I must show you my room. You can spend the night if you want. It can even be a sleep over!" the peashooter cried.

A sleepover? Those weren't authorized to zombies in the age group of 1-9. This is so cool!

She lead me up into her attic. I felt like I went through a portal or something when I got inside her room. She closed the door back and pressed a button. Then she opened the the door again. There was a dark hallway behind it instead of a staircase to a door.

"What in the world?!" I exclaimed.

"Yup. This is a portal door, from the prehistoric future. Isn't it awesome?" the peashooter replied.

"Where does that lead?" I asked.

The peashooter explained, "It leads you to the hallway outside my room door in Shadow Mansion. See? Now, let's change that look of yours. That bubbly hair is making me mad. By the way, my name is Shadow."

Shadow brushed my hair right back into my straight hair with a flat bang style. Then she handed me a suitcase.

Shadow explained, "During our walk, me and Darker bought some clothes for you to have. Oh, and I also wanted to give you this. This is my scarf, but I don't need it anymore. It'd go perfect with one of the outfits we bought for you."

I grabbed the suitcase and the scarf. Shadow pointed to her dresser and said, "Just set them near the dresser." I looked back at the dresser and set my stuff there.

Her room was huge, with half of it displaying artifacts, all labeled with listings of its past versions, who made it, its description, its age, and its full name. She even added her own opinions and comments.

"Wanna see my favorite ones? It's those ones right there," Shadow boasted, pointed to her west wall. I looked at the giant dual swords that hung on a wall. They surged with energy and were giving off a large aura of power.

Shadow walked up to the swords and said, "Those are our mother's dual swords, Gross and Orchid. When she died, she became the goddess of war and always caused each turning point for each invasion, fight, and anything else that includes peacemaking and bloodshed. I know everything she knows, she loves everything I love.

"Her personality of knowledge was passed down to me. Her personality of power, cunningness, and intelligence of war passed down to Darker. She was the perfect mom. I've never seen another mother that disciplined her children so well... Our father taught Darker to be a godslayer, so they were always out training while me and mom went around town to explore, then we'd come back to have family time. Oh, those were the days…"

"Do you have your father's weapons?" I asked.

Shadow pointed to one of the dual swords and said, "They shared. Gross was his, Orchid was our mother's. In fact…"

Shadow whistled. A ghost orchid in the shape of a dragon came from the sword that was supposed to be Orchid. I almost dove under Shadow's bed, until I discovered that her bed was a huge circular mattress that was built into the floor, so I flopped onto the bed instead.

Shadow patted the dragon's head and said, "Don't be scared, Fix. This is Orchid Naujila. The other one is in the other sword. These are the pets our parents left for us so we would be protected, no matter what. Darker has Gross Haiujil. If you live in the Colony, I assumed you saw Gross when the invasion happened, correct?"

I nodded slowly. Shadow looked at the other sword and gestured at it. The same black dragon came out. It immediately began to sniff me out.

"You and Gross have something in common: an allergy to potatoes. He smells anyone he doesn't know for potatoes. You seem clean, even though you would've died if you did have them on you," Shadow explained. Gross licked my cheek.

Orchid smelled so sweet, it was hypnotizing. Gross smelled very pleasant as well, and potato free. Orchid got on Shadow's bed to sleep and Gross went into the room next to us.

After a minute, a voice suddenly said, "Shadow, my girl? Is Fix back already?"

"Not here to stay, but yes, my dear brother," Shadow replied.

I started to assume that it was Darker speaking. Why did his voice sound so normal through walls?

Darker then said, "Tell her to get ready, then. Breakfast will be ready in a few more hours."

Shadow looked at me and cried back, "Okay!" I smiled. Breakfast for dinner again! Hooray!

Shadow got me out of my original clothing and dressed me in one of the pajamas she had brought me and exclaimed, "Perfect fit! Now, let's go introduce you to the Band of Darkness!" Wait, what?! What if THEY know who I am? Will they know? Will that chomper know?

Shadow realized that I really didn't like being around strangers, period, all due to my face. "The band is nice. Yeah, they're a bunch of fearsome, and extremely dangerous warriors, all loyal to my brother, but when you live with them, they're just a bunch of goofballs." I couldn't help but giggle a little bit.

"I heard that, Shadow! You're no better!" a voice cried.

"Yes I am. You're no match for me!" Shadow shouted back.

"Do you want to go?!" the voice yelled. God, am I annoyed.

"I will take on a douchebag anytime of the day!" Shadow cried back, stomping her foot.

Some girl voice then began, "Stop trying to fight when you know you're going to make D-"

"SHUT UP ALREADY!"

Everyone was silent. Me, Gross and Shadow had jumped straight into the fluffy bed, almost overwhelming Orchid, who immediately got out of the way at the last second. Never had I heard Darker get so loud. My ears were still ringing, even!

"Calm down, my dear brother! We're sorry to upset you!" Shadow cried. There was silence at first, until Shadow relaxed and grabbed a bell, ringing it slightly.

"Was that for a maid?" I asked.

Shadow shook her head. "No. It's to let everyone know that Darker's calm now. He hates extremely loud noises and unreasonable arguments, with a solid passion. Our dad hated those, too, but he'd get madder than Darker will ever be. I tend to get sucked into arguments a lot, as you saw."

I shrugged and said, "I don't blame you..."

The door suddenly swung open, and the same chomper from the invasion marched in, protesting, "Not once, not twice, but this is the third time you let Blood get to you! Let it go, woman! He's stupid, and he doesn't need to be encouraged!"

Shadow stomped her foot and cried, "Well, I'm sorry!"

The chomper turned to me. "Oh! So this is the girl I foresaw!"

Shadow looked at me and then back at the chomper, asking, "Really?"

"Yeah! She's so cute! Next time you come, girly, you are becoming my shopping buddy, okay?" the chomper said. I nodded, confused.

Shadow walked next to the chomper and said, "This is Hades. She's a sidekick, and a fortune teller. She told us that a young zombie girl will become allies with us. I didn't know it'd be you, though! What a surprise!"

Hades exclaimed, "Anyways, let's show her around! First, we can show her Darker's room."

I shivered slightly in fear and asked, "Is that even a good idea?"

Hades scoffed, "He doesn't really care most of the time. Come on."

The two plants lead me to the next room. "Sir, is it okay for Fix to look around?" Hades asked.

Darker calmly responded, "She can't touch my weapons." The door opened by itself.

The room looked something like Shadow's, with the bed built into the floor, the dressers built into the wall, the super large flat screen and the door leading to some sort of bathroom. There only difference: No artifacts any where. There was only weapons. Some were too cool to keep my eyes off of.

Darker was meditating, floating in mid air above his bed.

Shadow walked up to the edge of his bed, got on it, and greeted, "Good morning, dear brother. How is your meditation practice going?"

"It's going well, dearest Shadow, although I am finished," Darker replied, flopping onto his bed.

"Fix seems interested in your bow, Darker," Hades pointed out. I snapped out of my thoughts of what damage this bow could do. Darker snapped his fingers and the bow flew to his open palm.

"I have many weapons like this, but this is the only one I made myself. It's stronger than the others," Darker explained. I observed it for a second or two. I didn't want to ask how strong it was, but the question slipped from my mouth anyway.

Dark shook his head and said, "I could show you, but then again, my testing grounds were destroyed because of this thing."

"Where's that? You didn't even tell me!" Shadow asked, crossing her arms.

Darker pointed to the window and said, "You know that giant crater in the middle of the fields beyond Shadow Burbia?"

Shadow glanced at the window and replied, "Yeah. You told me a meteor came raining down in that area."

Darker shook his head and said, "I lied. It was a single arrow from this thing."

Shadow was silent, while Hades decided to show me the hole. A giant crater lying in the field, visible from this far! How did I miss this when I went sight seeing with that disco dude?!

"Do you understand how big that hole is, Darker?!" Shadow cried.

"I know, Shadow. That's why I decide to use it to kill gods, and gods only," Darker replied.

"Please don't tell me that you're going to try to hurt the new Azuleno with that thing!" Hades cried, hoping for a no, obviously.

"Do you have any other suggestions to kill a developing, invincible god, Hades?" Darker said, expecting Hades not to answered from the glare he gave her.

Hades sat in silence and shook her head. I could see her, merely glancing at me. Maybe because she was making sure I wasn't scared of it?

I was scared of it. This bow, creating a crater so deep and incredibly large, it could make a new ocean. Anyone would die a horrible and painful death if they were hit by that. But Azuleno is the goddess daughter of invincibility. Will she just merely brush it off? But didn't Darker say, developing? What surprised me even more was the mere fact that it was handcrafted by him! Handcrafted!

"Put it back, Darker. You're scaring Fix," Shadow said. Darker perfectly tossed the bow back on it's rack.

"She shouldn't be. I would never hurt a young, naive girl like her," Darker replied. I tilted my head in confusion. What does naive mean?

Overall, I couldn't help but sigh in relief. Hades looked at me and shook her head knowingly, saying, "We all have that time when we're scared of someone, but only the girls know it. That's the creepy part. Most girls always smell fear. Like all the girls in the Band of Darkness-"

"HEY! Breakfast is ready! Get down here now!" a girl shouted.

Shadow poked her head out of the door and yelled back, "We will be down, Wilt! Stop acting like our mom!"

"As long as I'm heard, I can be anything I want! Now get down here!" the girl rudely cried back. Shadow groaned in disappointment.

"Don't worry, Shadow. I'll punch Wilt in the face for you," Hades said, patting her head.

Shadow sighed and replied, "That sounds nice, for once. Who does she think she is, trying to impersonate my own mother!? Wilt is nothing like my mother. Nothing."

We traveled down to the dining room. The entire Band of Darkness was sitting at the long table, eating. Then I spotted the main thing I despised.

Potatoes

Shadow looked at me then groaned, "She's doing it again…," she waved her leaves in front of my face, "Fix, snap out of it! You don't need to sit near- wait a minute…"

The potato mine hero was what I was staring at. He was exerting heat around him, and there was no other seat than the one next to him. When I fell on the hero back in the invasion, I got a rash on my back that apparently healed by itself. I don't want to die entirely.

Shadow looked at the potato and mumbled, "Um… Shoots..."

"What is it, Shadow?" Darker asked.

Shadow reminded, "She can't sit next to Nuke! She's allergic to potatoes!"

Nuke turned in his seat and looked at me, exclaiming, "What?!"

"That's how it is," Hades replied.

"Oh my god… I'll switch seats with Fire. Hopefully that doesn't kill her," Nuke said, the flower getting up to move.

"...I have a possibility of just getting sick…," I replied.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, we ain't risking that possibility. Now sit!" Nuke cried. I frowned at the potato and sat in my seat.

"Hiya, cutie!", the dark sunflower said once I sat down, "You're so cute! Can we switch faces?" I was confused to no end.

"Fire, don't creep her out. Leave her alone," Darker hissed.

"Okay, Darker… But anywho, do you like sleepovers? Wanna spend the night here?" Fire asked. I couldn't say anything because of how scared I was.

Shadow groaned and replied, "I already asked, Fire. She's staying over."

"YAY!" Everyone was confused. I could even clearly see the confusion in Darker's terrifying eyes.

"We get to have a big sleepover tonight! We should invite Boltoid!" Fire exclaimed.

"Boltoid works until 10:00 in the morning. It's just 7:00," the citron replied.

"Whatever! I haven't had a good sleepover ever since Boltoid was here last time!" Fire protested.

"You tortured Boltoid,"Nuke replied, glaring at the sunflower.

"No I didn't! She totally loved it!" Fire shouted back. Nuke rolled his eyes.

"Boltoid's not coming, Fire. It's just Fix, so don't torture our guest," Darker order.

"Hooray! Everything going my way!" Fire cried.

"The more you brag, the more I will want to cancel the sleepover," Darker growled. Fire was silent about the matter after that. I was the only one who was completely, and awkwardly silent.

"Fix? Are you okay?" Shadow asked.

"Oh, nothing. I just have nothing to talk about," I replied.

"So why don't you just tell us how you feel?" the rose asked.

Everyone was now paying attention to me. I was thinking about saying that I didn't yet recover from the invasion thing because a few of my friends in the Learning Facility were beat to death. What I didn't know is that I was shouting it all the whole time and burst out crying in the end.

What's with this, me not knowing when I'm doing something? Am I possessed?

"...Um, it's okay… We're sorry…," the witch said.

Shadow looked as if she was about to explode.

"No, don't apologize… It shouldn't be my problem now…," I said, wiping my tears.

"Who beat a bunch of kids to death?" Darker asked.

Everyone was silent. Shadow stomped her foot hard in the ground, shaking the whole room. Dane!

"You're all sick people!" Shadow shouted, marching out of the dining room.

"Shadow, wait!" Darker rushed after his sister.

"I'm not hungry anymore," the imp said.

"Me, neither," the robotic imp added.

"Wanna play video games, BPVZ-81K?" the imp asked the robotic imp.

"Doesn't our guest need comfort?" 81K asked.

"Well… Yeah, you're right," the imp replied.

The small imp with a black and yellow suit came up to me and said, "Look, Fix, I want you to take this bat and hit me with it."

I looked at him as if he were crazy and said,"But I-"

The imp interrupted me and said, "I'm the one who killed those kids. I'm sorry, but words ain't gonna make you feel better. Take it and go crazy."

I pushed the bat away and replied, "I mean, I'm mad at you, but I can't feel better over revenge. I'd be someone who hurts other people for their own reasons! I don't want to be that, so keep your bat. I just want to know if Shadow is going to be okay."

The imp burst out crying, hugging me. "I've never met a girl so nice in my life!"

81K replied in a somewhat sweet voice, "Aw."

I replied back, "Well, it's okay, because I'm your friend now. Just don't go out killing kids again."

The imp cried, "I won't! You have my word!"

"You have mine, too!" 81K exclaimed.

"Me, too!" a super hero cried.

Shadow and Darker came downstairs. "Is everything okay?" I asked, hoping for a good answer.

"Yeah. Did anyone find out who killed them?" Darker asked.

"Yes, I did it. Fix forgave me," the imp replied.

"Why?" Darker said, looking at me.

"I can't get mad at him for my friends… Plus, I think they didn't like talking to me anyway… No, that makes things worse. I just need to move on," I said.

"Hey, I'm taking the hash browns upstairs- Ack!" the witch suddenly said.

The witch tripped on the button lying on the floor. The plate of hash browns went flying into the air. Unfortunately, regardless of my attempt to move out of its way, it landed straight on my face.

I felt my face burning so terribly, It was ridiculous. I felt my skin rash up and my breathing suddenly stopped. My legs wobbled and gave up on resisting the urge to stay alive, and I began to lose consciousness.

"Holy roots!" I heard Shadow cry, "Someone get a doctor!" Darker had picked me up, from what I last saw before my vision blurred up.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Fix!" I was hearing the witch apologize so many times until the voices became muffled. The last thing I heard was someone that would have never been Darker or anyone else there cry, "Fix!"

"Wake up, girly!" someone exclaimed. I slowly opened my eyes.

"Are you okay, Fix?" I heard Darker say.

I sat up and rubbed my aching neck, only to figure out that my entire face was covered in bandages, with a hole for my nose.

"We had to clean a lot of hash browns off of your face, but we managed to heal your rash. You should be fine now." a man said.

I heard a deep voice say. The bandages were unraveled from my face. Darker and Shadow was sitting on the edges of the bed, with a peashooter doctor, who was making sure my body was waking up properly..

"If it wasn't for that dragon-" the doctor began

"Gross." Darker hissed. I couldn't feel it, but I think I jumped.

"Sorry. If it wasn't for Gross, you would've died," the doctor said after shivering.

"What… happened?" I asked.

"He came rushing into the hospital with a big health kit that contained dozens of allergy shots. He had to used three, so your neck might be in pain for a while," the doctor explained.

I looked at the window, in which Gross was poking his head into the room, with a large plastic healthkit in his mouth.

"Thank you… Gross," I said, smiling at the dragon. The dragon bowed his head and left.

"How long until she feels again?" Shadow asked.

The doctor looked at his clipboard and said, "Not too long. She's actually pretty healthy, so she'll heal fast."

"Great! I'll carry her!" Shadow cried, attempting to grab me.

"No you won't," Darker hissed, stopping her.

"I wanna carry her!" Shadow cried, stomping her foot.

"No," Darker replied.

"She's mine!"

"No."

Shadow crossed her arm in disappointment and cried, "Share!"

"...Fine."

"Yay!" Shadow exclaimed, scooping me up and carrying me like a baby out the door.

Soon, we were back at Shadow Mansion. Everyone was playing around, the maids cleaned, the servants were playing games, too, the cooks were preparing lunch and the slaves were even dancing around, doing crazy stuff with the gang. Apparently, the workers loved it here.

"We're back!" Shadow exclaimed. The whole gang came running to us.

"Is she okay?" Nuke asked.

"Yeah. She can't feel, but the rash is gone," Darker replied. Gross came through a nearby window and came up to Shadow and snorted.

"No! I'm holding her!", Shadow shouted. The dragon roared.

"No!" Shadow cried back. Gross crossed his arms.

"Fine, but only for upstairs!" Gross took me upstairs and set me in a guest room. It wasn't as nice as Shadow and Darker's room was, but it was beautiful, all the least.

A slave came in with some milky tea and a beautiful Zombopolis Style Cheesecake, saying, "Hello, miss Fix! I am Tori, the slave of this room!"

"Hello!" I greeted.

"Mister Darker asked me to bring you these. Do you like cheesecake?" Tori asked.

"It's my favorite," I replied. God, Darker knows me, too!

"Okay! I will set them on your nightstand. Oh, and tap this buzzer and a servant will come to you," Tori explained.

"Thank, miss." I responded. The slave left the room, skipping. It got me wondering how they were so happy being enslaved...

"Fix, you must come back home once it becomes midnight."

"Huh? Who said that?" I asked.

Gross poked his head up in confusion, then it looked at me, then looked at the ceiling. I watched his face change as the voice seemingly spoke to him.

"Fix, it's me, your mother." I froze and looked around in disbelief.

"You cannot see me, but I am here. Gross can see me." I tried to looked around and spot her, but I just couldn't.

"But… I want to…" I whined, my eyes tearing up.

"I know you do, and you will, soon. Now is not the time, though. Spy will be coming in their next morning, and Spy will know your identity and foolishly blurt it all out. He is the one that grabbed your broken necklace, and gladly hasn't found my blueprint I gifted to you."

"Leave this place at midnight and hurry to your dwelling. I will speak with you there, and you are not to tell anyone about what I tell you, do you understand?" I nodded, still sad that I couldn't see my mother for the first time,

"Don't be sad, my child." I felt something bring my chin up to a certain view and kiss my forehead.

"All will be revealed to you, once your surroundings are not threatening to kill you. I can only reveal to you a little bit of what is going on."

I heard a loud howl of the wind. I watched Gross's head turn slowly, until he was staring at the balcony.

The dragon snorted, "Well, wasn't that something."

"YOU TALK?!" I shouted.

"You can understand me? She must've given you that power." Gross replied, floating over to the bed and lying at my feet.

"Who, my mom? What were you talking about? What was she talking about? Why can I understand you?!" I cried. Gross backed away a little bit.

"Calm down! You're getting ahead of yourself. Plus, you still can't feel your legs, ya know!" Gross reminded.

I laid down onto the pillow of the bed and replied, "You're right…"

"I'll go tell Darker and Shadow that you must leave at midnight."

With that, Gross left the room. As he opened the door, I heard Blood yelling, "You didn't fix the air conditioner yet?!"

I know how to fix an air conditioner…

I quickly got onto the floating pillow that gave me the ability to move without stressing my legs more than they were. Then I traveled down to where Blood was yelling at the old engineer, greeting everyone who were happy I finally came out of the room.

"This is twice this week! You need to learn how to fix the air conditioner!"

"If you would stop yelling at me, maybe I could get some work done!" The engineer cried back.

I intentionally walked passed them and observed the air conditioner. It was the size of a house, and sported 200 fans and 500 filters. I saw twenty fans not spinning.

"Turn it off," I ordered.

"What?" The Engineer asked.

"Turn it off!" I barked.

The engineer unplugged the thing. I crawled inside with him and check each of the twenty fans.

"These need to be oiled. The filters need to be cleaned," I told him.

"Got it, girly!" The Engineer said. Just like that, the engineer fixed the thing in no time flat.

"Why didn't you do that before?!" the bonk choy cried.

"Never judge an engineer. I like being by myself, and that's why I always do a good job. I don't need a teacher that isn't even close to being smart enough to fix a light up doll house!"

"Why you-"

Darker came into the courtyard, asking. "You fixed it, Manny?"

"Yeah. Fix here helped me out, sir,"

Darker looked at me and crossed his arms, reminding, "Fix, you shouldn't be crawling around. Your legs can't handle that."

I looked at my legs, which were now stinging very badly. Darker carefully picked me up and placed me back on the pillow.

"Come on, let's get you back to your room," Darker replied, dragging the pillow with him. I waved the engineer goodbye as we left.

Once again, back in supposingly my room after Darker treated my leg with a spell called Prayer, I was lying down, watching TV for a good while until Shadow came into the room.

"If you're not healed by the time it's before midnight, do you want me to help you home? You can have the pillow too, you know. We're rich, so it doesn't matter if you take it."

I almost sat up, but remembering that I couldn't move any muscle that has something to do with my lower body just a tiny bit, or the whole thing would snap back into pain, I decided not to and nodded in response.

"Bloke left the button Witchy tripped on lying there because he wanted to play a prank on her. When Darker re-entered the dining room, a bucket of milk dropped down on him…"

I hissed at that. Shadow nodded in agreement and continued, "Bloke got punished harsh. I even punished him, and so did Witchy. Even Hades punished him, and she had no way of attacking."

"How?" I asked.

Shadow replied, "She used a frying pan."

I hissed, "That must've hurt."

Shadow shrugged and replied, "It left a dent in his shell, but he's okay."

"Why did she do it?" I asked out of curiosity.

Shadow scoffed and explained, "He took all the milk doing that, and she has to drink milk in order to get her beautiful teeth to grow back. I'd be pissed, too. You took away my only way of regaining my ability to attack. What a douchebag." I smiled at Shadow.

"Shadow, my darling? Where are you?" Darker called from the hallway.

"I'm in Fix's guest room, my dear brother. How was your bath?" Shadow asked. Darker came in. Even from where I was, he looked spotless.

"It was pleasant. Not that Luxury Baths are suppose to ever be terrible," Darker replied.

"Unless the water is too hot," Shadow reminded.

"Yes. Unless the water is too hot."

"I made that mistake at Boltoid's suite." I said, trying to push the thought out of my mind.

Just merely being in the steam of a Luxury Bath that overheated was enough to have me rushing out of the bathroom at full speed and plopping on the bed in hopes of getting cold again. It was awful.

"Boltoid always makes that mistake. She'll learn one day," Shadow said hopefully, "To think she'd learn the first time... It's just terrible how hot it can possibly get."

"Yup," I agreed.

"Does your leg feel better?" Darker asked. I tried moving my leg, but I felt a sharp pain cry out to me in response, so I shook my head.

"Are you sure you don't wanna stay here, Fix?" Shadow asked.

"I'm sure. My caretakers will be worried about me," I assured. The two looked at each other, then shrugged.

We talked for a while longer until a torchwood came into the room and cried, "It's a freaking fake, Darker!"

"What?!" Darker exclaimed.

"Yes! There is no soul inside of the broken necklace. Must've moved!" the torchwood continued.

Darker held his head in disappointment, and growled, "Out."

"But-"

"I said, out, which means, get the hell out!" Darker shouted. Ow, my ears!

"Okay!" the torchwood cried, rushing out of the room.

Shadow crossed her arms. "I told you: if you kill the body and not the soul-"

Darker interrupted her and replied, "I know Shadow, I know."

"Why didn't you? Dad stressed this, like, a million times. You remember what happened when we killed that bird, and we left the soul there? It came back and was out to kill us, but Dad saved us, and he punished us real bad," Shadow reminded.

Darker replied in a somewhat embarrassed tone, "I know that, Shadow. Don't remind me of it."

"It was sorta an accident…," Shadow said.

"Stop lying, Shadow," Darker said, glaring at his sister.

"I don't wanna feel bad because we didn't know what to do with a dead bird!" Shadow cried,

"Bury it?" I asked.

"It was in mom's garden. We weren't allowed to dig a hole," Shadow said.

"Yeah, we were in a tight spot…," Darker started, pausing for a moment to think, "But then again, someone must've found the blueprints and rebuilt it again..." I was completely silent.

"Well… We have met a person from the Colony that is an engineer, and engineers built things, so…," Shadow asked. The two looked at me.

"Are you holding your leg Fix?" Darker asked. I looked at my hand and noticed that I was squeezing my leg the whole time, which agitated it some more and caused it to bleed.

"Fix…," Darker hissed, glaring at me.

"Sorry…," I sorrowed.

Darker sighed, "I'm not letting you go back."

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"I didn't stutter, did I?" Darker said, glaring at me again.

"No… But… but…," I stuttered.

"But what?" Shadow asked.

"I was told that one of my caretakers were coming and I didn't want him to notice me here…," I explained.

"Who else is in the council tonight that's from the Colony… Oh, Herme?" Darker asked.

"Yeah," I asked.

"That meeting will only take place downstairs. You're not leaving this room, so don't worry about it. And please, do not touch nor even move your leg, understand?" Darker explained.

I nodded in agreement and replied, "Okay."

"Now, back to what we were going to ask you," Darker said. Dang it, I thought they forgot about it.

"Do you know anyone that has a necklace with ten golden spheres and an encased ruby?" Shadow asked. I couldn't think of anything, so I decided to just tell about the necklace instead. I can't let anyone have my blueprint.

"I wasn't given a blueprint, but my friend showed me how to build one," I lied.

"Who is your friend?" Shadow asked.

"I was told she died from poison…," I said. One of my friends did indeed die from poison by the way.

"That was probably Gross," Shadow assumed.

The dragon came out of the lampshade and hissed, "I didn't even kill anyone!", at Shadow. Shadow glared at him coldly.

Gross then roared back, "Okay, maybe a few dozen people, but still!"

"So, you have the necklace?" Dark asked after rolling his eyes at the two.

"Um, yeah…?" I answered nervously.

"Can you keep it for us?" Shadow asked.

"Why?" I asked.

"Why not? The necklace has a soul in it, even!" she boasted, looking as if she'd take my necklace and put it on display any day. I never knew my necklace had a soul in it. Now I feel like a sick person…

"That... doesn't sound very pleasant," I replied.

"Well, I think it's cool just like my war helmets that are cursed!" Shadow cried in joy. Darker rolled his eyes.

"That doesn't sound pleasant either," I replied again.

"Just hold on to it, Fix. Lose it, and I will personally punish you." At the end of that sentence, Darker gave me a sinister smile. I wasn't very fond of it.

"O-okay..." I stammered, fear boiling up in my chest.

Our conversation was then interrupted by a loud, "Dinner's ready!" coming from downstairs.

"Finally! What took them so long?" Shadow complained.

Darker shrugged and replied, "I asked Defu to surprise us. I guess he was trying hard."

Shadow looked back at me and said, "I bet it'll be nice. I'll bring you some food. Maybe we can eat with you and watch a movie?"

"That sounds nice," I answered back.

The two left the room while Gross kept me company, and made sure I didn't dare touch my leg.

"Your instincts are really having a bad effect on you, Fix," Gross snorted.

"I know that! Ever since this mess started, I've been doing things without me knowing!" I exclaimed.

"Blame the god of intelligence and control. He's Zatilenia's eldest son, and he loves playing with his younger siblings and worshippers, and toying with their bodies at times," Gross snarled.

"I don't like that," I said.

Deal with it, Fixy.

I screamed at the top of my lungs. A soldier that roamed around the halls in order to protect the place came inside.

"What is it, Fix?" the soldier asked. I pointed an accusing finger at the sky window.

"The gods are messing with you? How odd. They must like you," the soldier said.

"I'm scared!" I cried, trembling.

"Don't worry, Fix. They won't hurt you in a bad way. Also, let's get you back into the position you were put in," the soldier said. Apparently when I screamed, I jolted up and ended up standing, my leg shaking violently. Damn you, god of intelligence.

Darker and Shadow returned with food I've never seen before.

"Gross, check this one," Darker ordered.

The dragon came up to Darker and sniffed the plate he was told to. He cringed harsh and backed away, growling at the plate.

"Thought so. You're not eating this one, Fix," Darker said, pointing to certain plate of food.

"What is all that?" I asked.

"It's chinese food. You can't move from that position, so I'll feed it to you," Darker answered, following his sister onto the bed.

"Okay," I replied.

Now that I think about it, ever since I met Darker for a second time, he's been such a gentleman. I was scared of him at first, but now, I just feel comfortable around him, but still a little cautious because of what's he's truly capable of, especially after seeing that bow. I guess his father did teach him to respect and treat women kindly. I'm gonna have to stay on good terms with him about that necklace...

During dinner, we watched a movie called, The Good, The Bad, and The Spikey. After eating and finishing the movie, a few maids came to grab our plates and help me get ready for bed. Darker and Shadow left with the maids, with Gross following a few minutes after he gave me one last lick on the cheek. I wasn't really tired, but after a while of doing absolutely nothing and being lonely, I fell asleep.

"She was pulled back..."

"Mother, please, let me kill him! He's clearly in the way!"

"Violence is not the answer."

"I will not allow no colonist to have my beloved soon-to-be sibling viewed as a bad person by the godslayer all because of his foolishness."

"Of course not, sweetheart. All of you would never let that happen. But patience is required to see good things happen. But to make you feel better, you may slightly hurt him once, only if it looks like an accident made by him."

"With pleasure, mother."

I woke up after having a dream about a baby panda that played in a candy land eating sugar cane. I rubbed my aching head and looked at my leg. It was almost fully healed, so I just needed to wait a couple of hours more for it to heal. As I slowed down my heavy breathing, I began to faintly hear voices. They were muffled and hard to make out, so I ignored them. Then, I attempted to rub my neck of pain.

I felt those same smooth spheres of solid gold.

I quickly took what was on my neck off and observed it. How in the world did my necklace even get here, of all places? If Darker sees this, he might take it again and… No, that can't possibly happen. He told me to hold onto it. It wouldn't matter much that it would currently be in my possession. But then again: this thing has a soul in it…

After remembering that, I dropped the necklace as if it was infected. I rubbed my hands together and looked at the necklace lying on my chest.

"A soul, in a necklace that my mother told me to build… Why…" I said, poking the necklace.

Suddenly, a red aura appeared, swirling from the ruby until it grew the size of my stomach. Then the aura went to the middle of the bed and solidified, creating the same baby panda that was in my dream, only with gold diamond bracelets, and a gold bandana.

I was too shocked to even scream at the top of my lungs. The panda crawled on top of me and sniffed me for a while.

"Oh, you're allergic to potatoes as well? Let me see what else you inherited," it spoke, indicating that it was a she, and that it was clearly not a normal panda. She continued to sniff me out until she stopped and looked at my leg.

"You only inherited the allergy to potatoes, and that's good. Now, let us heal up that leg," the panda said, crawling onto my legs.

In just one lick, the panda healed up my leg. I could finally move it, which means I could finally get out of this position.

"W-Who are you…?" I asked, scared.

The panda got off my legs and sat next to me, saying, "Don't be afraid of me, sugar bun. Call me Azul if you want, but you have all right to name me."

I sat up, feeling my leg to make sure it was fully healed. "Azul is fine… Why do I have all right to name you?" I asked.

"You made me. I am that necklace, and I was created by the original necklace you first made, which had the goddess pet stone in it. Well, that's broken, so I had a substitute sent in, and when you got the ingredients and placed them next to my old body, I entered the ingredients. All I needed was a dream that actually had pictures in it from you, and I would form, so I pushed my new body all the way here. Trust me, getting out of Shadow's room without waking her was hard," Azul explained.

Azul rested herself on my stomach. I ran my fingers through her silky fur, saying, "I'm not… dreaming, am I?"

"No. You woke up from a dream, silly!" Azul giggled.

"...This is real?" I asked.

"I just established that, Fix," Azul said.

"But why... Where…," I tried to say, failing.

"I can't explain that to you, but I will let your mother do that once we get to your room in the morning-" Azul started.

Suddenly, quiet footsteps were heard. "Go back to sleep, Fix! At least pretend to!" Azul whispered.

"Okay…," I whispered.

As the room grew silent, we began to hear talking. "I can sense it, sir! The Goddess pet is on the surface as a furry animal!" a man said.

"There's millions of furry animals on this planet! If you don't tell me anything specific, how will anyone of my soldiers find it, hm?" Darker replied.

"If Herme were here, this conversation would've went somewhere. That klutz! Had to trip into a pool of snakes!" another man said.

"He had to just go to the zoo before the meeting," the other man added.

"Stop talking about Herme like that. You two are no better. The god of intelligence has no interest in you, and that's shameful on its own. Now go back downstairs. I have to check on someone," Darker hissed.

"Yes, sir," the two men said in unison, more footsteps being heard.

I felt my necklace on my chest disappear. Then, Azul immediately crawled onto my stomach and pretended to sleep as the door opened.

"Hm? Where'd this panda come from?" I heard Darker say quietly.

I listened to Darker's every move against the floor until I felt the bed recoil from him standing on it. Azul was removed from my stomach and put aside.

"I guess the panda was her pet… Her leg seems to have healed well… Maybe I'll let her go tomorrow morning," Darker said to himself.

Azul was placed back onto my stomach. Darker left after seemingly petting Azul. We were still for the moment, then, after staying in our fake sleeping position for too long, we fell asleep.

"Miss Fix! Wake up!" I heard suddenly. I sat up slowly and wiped my eyes. A wet rag was rubbed all over my face.

"Thank you, Tori." I replied.

"You're most welcome! This might be an inconvenience for you, but your pet was momentarily stolen by Darker," Tori replied. Momentarily Stolen? Doesn't that mean he literally borrowed her without my consent?

"Okay…" I replied.

"Oh, and Fire wants to see you. I suggest to hurry up and get into Darker's room if you want to live," Tori replied. I was frozen.

"What? I'm serious! Go!" Tori said, panicking. I got up and ran out of the room.

"Fixy… Come here, Fixy…," I heard Fire say. I looked behind me and saw Fire rushing towards me.

"Holy moly!" I shouted, making a mad dash towards Darker's room door. I went inside and locked the door behind me. Darker and Azul were talking to each other.

"Hm?" Darker asked.

"What's up?" Azul added.

"F… Fi…" I stammered, losing my breath.

"Ugh, not this again. Gross! Get Fire from in front of my door," Darker barked.

Gross poked his head out of Darker's bow. Well, Gross has proven that he can, and will, go to sleep in any object.

The dragon grabbed a cup of liquid nitrogen from a vault near Darker's bathroom door and drunk it, then he went outside. It sounded like an ice war outside, until everything began to quiet down and Gross came back inside with Fire trapped in a block of ice. I was wide eyed.

"No hurting Fix! She just got healed," Darker growled.

Fire surprisingly burned through the ice, shook herself off and cried, "Whatever! You better have a substitute later on, then!"

"We're going to the colony tonight, anyway. We just got news that the tree stole Gross and Orchid's homes," Darker said.

"The swords?! Dang… That's some bogus!" Fire said.

"I know. But that tree will pay the ultimate price for stealing a goddess's dual swords. Not only that, but I was told that the necklace is resonating with someone," Darker said

"Fix?" Fire asked.

Gross shook his head and snorted, "No. She doesn't have goddess power."

Fire then replied briefly, "At least not yet…"

"Are you trying to get Fix killed, Fire? What would happen if she was resonating with it, hm?" Gross growled.

"Called it! She's dead!" Fire cried. Gross froze the flower again.

"Gross, we'll just have to wait and see. Like I said, I would never hurt Fix. She doesn't deserve pain like that," Darker said.

Fire melted the ice again and cried, "Watch you kill her, you appetizer! When have I always been wrong?"

"Everyday, every hour, every year." Gross replied, crossing his short arms.

"You'll see! If I'm right, then you have to sleep in Blood's bathroom for the rest of that week!" Fire betted.

"We're not turning this into something petty, Fire. And no, that bet is never going to happen. Gross is too majestic and beautiful to sleep in that pigstock," Darker said, petting Gross' scales.

"He sleeps in your father's ghost cat," Fire said.

"It's an object," Darker reasoned.

"You will never make me believe that it's an object!" Fire cried.

Darker dung his face into his hands and barked, "Get out, Fire. You're ruining my morning."

"Alrighty, then!" Fire flew out of the door, singing, "Fix is gonna die", all the while.

I was scared. My necklace wasn't resonating with me, was it? If it was, then I would turn into a developing goddess. What are the chances?

Darker got up and helped me up, since I was crunched over in fear. "The only way you would be resonating with the necklace is if it changes it's target. I'm sure enough it won't," he assured.

"Hopefully… I don't wanna die…," I said.

Darker patted my head and assured, "I just told you Fix, I would never hurt you. Come, let us have breakfast. It should be ready."

"Yeah, food!" Gross cried with Azul.

When we left the room, Shadow had just walked out of hers at the same time and looked at us.

"OMG, IT'S A PANDA BEAR!" Shadow almost instantly grabbed Azul and started hugging and kissing her softly.

"Can I be saved? Please?" Azul begged.

"Shadow, don't torture Fix's pet," Darker said. Shadow gently put Azul down.

"You have a pet, Fix? No wonder you don't live with your caretakers. She's so cute! I wanna nimble her up!" Shadow cried, Azul hid behind me. In what world did she believe I could protect her from a crazy panda fangirl?

"Please no…," Azul weeped.

"Let's just go eat, okay?" Darker said.

"Okay, dear brother!" Shadow exclaimed.

We traveled downstairs and walked to the kitchen, chatting about pandas all the while.

"Well, I like to eat berries," Azul said after Shadow asked her about bamboo.

"I guess that's good. They are delicious! Especially when they're in pie! Hey, dear brother? Don't you remember that time when Mother used to make Cloud Cheesecake with Goddess Berries on it for us?" Shadow said.

Darker nodded in agreement and replied, "Indeed. It was the best cheesecake we've ever had."

Shadow turned back to me and said, "It was so good, our family fought over the last slice."

I tilted my head slightly and asked, "What happened?"

"Mother won," Shadow replied.

"She is a goddess. It's not a surprise." Darker replied.

"She was a demi-god back then!" Shadow cried.

"You're a demi-god, too, but you haven't beaten me yet!" Darker cried back. Shadow's a demi-god? How lucky.

"You're a godslayer! You're not suppose to be beaten by a mere demi-god, dummy! How would father react if he found that out, hm? He'd beat you up!" Shadow said. I almost forgot Darker was a godslayer. He is meant to kill actual gods, not be defeated by demi-gods.

"That's true. Mom's an excuse though. I was young back then," Darker said.

"You probably still can't beat her," Shadow replied.

"Probably. Maybe then next time she comes down from heaven, she'll ask us to test our skills," Darker wondered.

We soon arrived at the dining room, where the Band of Darkness and several slaves were. They had finished the plate of hash browns thankfully and made sure I had a seat near Gross, who sat right next to Darker.

"I picked out some food for you last night. Don't worry, Gross taste tested them each. That's why it's only half," I frowned at the dragon. Gross smiled innocently.

"It was good, so you will enjoy it, too!" Gross replied, eating his food, which was the same thing and the same portions.

My food looked very exquisite. Half of it was too rich to identify, but I did a least know that the one waffle was there. Gross was apparently waiting to see my reaction from eating something way out of what I usually eat. I eventually began eating what I thought was a salad.

Nope. It's a Luxury Fruit Salad. Wasn't this expensive in the Colony? The chefs say that it costs 500,000 coins everyday. My income was just 5,000. I don't even think Darker will tell me his income from owning an entire planet. Holy moly.

"You looked surprised," Darker mused.

I put down my fork, which was one of the three forks placed at the sides of my plate. "This is expensive," I said.

Darker shrugged and replied, "I say it's cheap."

"I'm not surprised," I said, not amused.

"How much is your income, Fix?" Shadow asked.

"5,000 coins a day," I said.

"Pretty good for a three year old zombie." I never told Darker my age. How did he know?!

"I make nearly 100 billion coins a day. Most of the people in Suburbia never have an income over 10 million coins," Dark explained. I was a little sad by this, but I guess this is why Shadow Burbia is a prosperous city.

"That's just the grown ups, though, so don't be sad," Darker reassured, gesturing at me, "Finish your food, Fix. No one's stopping you." I looked back at my food and went back to eating it.

Gross apparently wanted to play with me badly because when I sat down to watch TV with the gang after breakfast, the dragon immediately dragged me away and took me all the way to my room. Then he showed me a pile of potato dolls.

"What do we do with these?" I asked, hoping that they didn't have any real potatoes in them.

"Burn the enemy!" Gross cried.

"Doesn't this offend Nuke?" I asked.

"He'll be alright. Let's put these in the bonfire at the pool. Just climb out of the window, okay?" Gross said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Darker doesn't like it when I burn things that have a strong smell," Gross reasoned.

"Why not in the furnace then?" I asked.

"The vents, Fix." Gross reminded.

"Oh."

Gross helped me out of the window and lead me to a giant pool in the back yard. Gross lit the bonfire and started tossing the potato dolls in the fire. Then we danced in it's ashes. After that, Gross and I cleaned it all up and went back inside to play video games.

"Fix! It's time for you to return home!" Shadow cried. I loudly groaned with Gross.

Shadow walked into the room and said, "Come on, Fix! I know you don't wanna leave, but maybe one day, you'll be able to live here!"

I piped up and exclaimed, "Okay!"

Shadow lead me into her room with Gross and Orchid. Azul was sitting on Shadow's bed, waiting to climb on my shoulders.

"Dearest Brother! Don't you wanna come get a snack from the Pantry house?" Shadow asked.

"Not right now. I am meditating," Darker said.

"Okay!" Shadow cried in response, leading me and Gross into her room.

Shadow closed her room door and pressed the button. When she opened it again, the stairs leading to a door appeared again.

"Come on. I gotta fill up my snack box!" Shadow cried. Shadow has a snack box?

Apparently, she does. She was able to just grab five snacks from the pastries section and eat it with Gross and Orchid.

"You better wake up early tomorrow. We're gonna have another day together!" Shadow cried.

I clapped my hands in delight and waved Shadow goodbye. The three went back into the door and shut it behind them, and the pantry house became silent. I could only hear Azul, who was munching on berries on my shoulder.

I traveled to my room, taking note of the Full Darks that were here. None of them cared for my existence, all except one… Yup, Magnet is going to kill me.

"You went out again, this time, into Darker's mansion and stayed there for a whole day?! Were you even thinking about me, or Captain Charles?!" Magnet cried.

I put my head down in shame and sorrowed, "Sorry…"

Magnet crossed his arms in anger, "Sorry doesn't fix the fact that you went there, and completely broke rule #234!" I stomped my foot.

"All I can say is that I'm sorry!" I shouted.

"Fix, don't do it again! I forbid it!" Magnet shouted back.

I quickly replied, "But I promised-"

Magnet instantly interrupted me. "Who?!"

"Shadow… She told me!" I shouted back, my face burning with rage.

"Well, we're going to have to send you to the Youth Hostel tomorrow, since you broke a rule. Now get to your room!" Magnet said.

"But-" I tried to reason.

"Go, Fix!" Magnet cried.

I rushed off to my room. Once I got there, I burst into tears. I couldn't believe how undeniably rude Magnet was to me. I felt as if I wanted to run away… The Youth Hostel… It's a hotel, sure, but it's a place where bad children get 'shaped' into good ones. My friends asked me to promise them that I wouldn't dare get myself into the Youth Hostel, but here I am, having to prepare to go there tomorrow…

I WILL NOT break their promise! Never!


	3. Chapter 3

Fix.

I jumped up in fear with Azul. After a second, I realized that it was my mother's voice that spoke. I stood up from my carpet. Azul made a cute, high pitched noise when I did this.

"Ah, Azul. So you were made after all. Good. But now is not the time for reunions. Fix, I want you to sneak out into the secret compartment near the tree."

I nodded and replied, "Okay, mommy."

Azul climbed off of my shoulder and rushed to the window, opening it slightly. She helped me out and opened the secret compartment. I was surprised by this. How did Azul know where the secret compartment was, how to open it, and how fast we needed to be in order to properly scale the tree to the compartment? What a sidekick!

Once we got into the secret compartment, we sat in silence, awaiting to hear my mother's next order. Instead, the compartment door opened, revealing Gross.

"Gross!" I cried, almost bursting into tears of joy.

"I didn't actually come alone," Gross snorted. I went up the Gross's snout and looked past him, Azul climbing back onto my shoulders. Shadow was riding Gross, while Darker was riding Orchid, whose white scales and petals were sparkling in the Sunlit Moon.

"Climb on, Fix!" Shadow said.

"Is this safe?" I asked.

"Yeah. You won't fall, promise," Shadow assured.

I climbed past Gross's snout and got in front of Shadow, while Azul jumped onto Orchid without fail.

"Holy moly!" I cried in fear, "Don't do that, Azul!"

"That was awesome! I am a demigod!" Azul cried, dancing.

Darker rolled his eyes and said, "But you're a panda,"

"Let me dream!" Azul cried back.

We rode all the way to Shadow Mansion, going straight into Shadow's window. Going back through the Wall of Dim and into Shadow Burbia was soothing for some odd reason, as if I was a full dark...

"How'd you know I was there?" I asked.

"The God of Intelligence told us to keep you safe. I don't know why, but I won't question him," Darker said.

"How? I thought gods were…" I started.

Shadow interrupted, "They are in Heaven, but they have mortal bodies." Suddenly, a super commando burst into the room.

"Look, Darker, why'd you have to go and break your TV remote?! I can't reach that TV button!", he shouted.

"There's another remote in there, Xaeron. You know where it is, too," Darker reasoned.

"Screw you! Wait… Ah, Fix! There you are!" Xaeron replied.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Fix, this is the god of intelligence's mortal body. His name is Xaeron. He's also my best friend," Darker said.

"Yup! The only thing we don't agree on is the mere fact that you want to kill my lil sister when she rises up. Other than that, it's all good," Xaeron said. Darker glared at him.

"You're the older brother of Azuleno?" I asked.

"Duh!" Xaeron said.

"...How was the other Azuleno like…?" I asked. Xaeron made a face. A face so describable and so negative, it made me want to cry for him.

"She was… bad… Really bad…" he said, slowly.

"Oh…" I replied, slightly disappointed in myself for asking.

He went on to say, "I asked Tardinus to kill her, while her necklace was in my possession, but God Dave and God Zomboss blocked him, so Darker killed the two gods. Then… Yeah… She was beyond evil. Worst sister ever."

"Wouldn't the next Azuleno dislike herself if she found that out?" I asked.

Xaeron crossed his arms. "Of course not! Mother said that she will give her necklace power tomorrow, so that the necklace can choose it's caretaker. The caretaker becomes the developing Azuleno after three days."

"So that's why you came. Why did you lie to me and tell me you wanted to protect Fix?" Darker said, crossing his arms.

"Fix is awesome! She was about to be put into a concentration hotel to change her actions, all because she spent the night here!" Xaeron replied.

Shadow gasped, "Those colonist are not to touch her! SHE'S MINE!"

Darker looked at Shadow and snarled, "No."

"We're not having this argument again!" Shadow shouted back.

"But she's not yours. We're sharing," Darker replied. When did all of this happen?! When did I belong to Darker in the first place?

"That means that she's mine too!" Shadow reasoned.

"I didn't give you permission to call her yours," Darker said.

"You are not the boss of me!" Shadow cried.

Xaeron shook his head knowingly at the irony and explained, "These are the kinds of arguments I have with my other siblings. They always sound exactly like this. Except the part when Mother stops us and reminds us that we are gods and goddesses." I giggled at that with Azul.

Xaeron clapped his hands together, calling the two siblings attention, and announced, "Alright! Tonight, I have to go the ceremony. I had my eyes on certain people, ya know. I want to have the best sister ever!"

Darker scoffed, "She better be. We don't do want a repeat of what happened a century ago."

Xaeron spat back, "I know, Darker! I promise, you're gonna like her, alot!"

Darker rolled his eyes and replied, "Whatever. For now, Fix will live here for a while, since the necklace is in her possession. Fix, handover the necklace." Azul summoned the necklace and gave it to me. I handed it over to Darker, who gave it to Shadow.

"Shadow will keep it safe, trust me," Darker assured,

"Won't she put it on heavy lockdown?" I asked.

"Yup. But that doesn't mean anything but the mere fact that it's not going anywhere," Xaeron added.

Shadow started polishing my necklace, and then opened a three door safe and placed it in there, crying, "There we go! Safe and sound!"

Shadow continued, "I hope Zatilenia's ceremony goes well. She keeps saying that the necklace still has the chances of corrupting that person."

"Yeah, she did indeed say that. But I am sure it'll most likely pick one of my chosen people!" Xaeron bragged.

"Stop bragging. You're a god," Darker reminded with a frown.

"You're not my mom, Darker!" Xaeron cried.

"You're right. I'm your dad." Darker said with a chuckle.

Xaeron crossed his arms. Darker smirked at him and teleported out of the room. Xaeron did the same.

"Well, Fix, wanna go swimming?" Shadow said after recovering from her giggle fit.

"I guess?" I asked, still wondering why it was funny.

Azul hopped off of my shoulder. "You'll never take me alive! Never!" she cried, running down the hall into the room I slept in when I was here.

"Well, swimming's off the list… Hey, didn't Hades say that she'd take you shopping next time you came? Maybe we can go shopping! Maybe we could even go to a nightclub tonight as well!", Shadow said, excited.

"Okay! Wait, how do you go shopping? What is a nightclub?" I asked.

Shadow gasped loudly in disbelief. "What?! The Colony doesn't have stores, nor nightclubs?!", she asked.

I shook my head and replied, "No."

Azul came back and explained, "Shopping is when you got out and spend your money on stuff you want. A nightclub is a place where people go to party at night. Most adults go to nightclubs, but Shadow and Hades would never allow you to go to one of the adult nightclubs."

"How do you get stuff in the Colony?" Shadow asked. Hades suddenly came in with a purse so well made, it sparkled, even in this dim light.

"As your income rises, you are rewarded with many things, like TVs, couches, soaps, special baths, tools and other daily household things," I replied.

Hades crossed her arms and retorted, "The Colony sounds like a prison."

I thought about that comment and replied, "After seeing Shadow Burbia, I guess it is."

"Hey, Darker! I'm stealing your sister and her dragon!" Hades shouted, dragging me and Shadow out of the room, Orchid following behind with Azul riding her.

"Whatever. Just don't take Fix," Darker shouted back from his room.

"Okay!", Hades whispered in my ear, "Let's not tell him about this." Shadow agreed, and so did Orchid.

"O-Okay…" I replied, worried we might still get in trouble.

We rushed out of the mansion and started our walk to some store, I guess. The streets were busy, and a lot of plants were being nurtured by zombies, not to mention the industrial workers around the place. They littered the sidewalks as if they were the only ones working in the entire city.

There were zombies painting, building structures and fixing sidewalks and sewers. Then there were plants, who washed windows of large buildings, controlled traffic, and even managed successful shops. Even more surprising, when we were passing through the neighborhood, we walked past forty cake stands that little kids were running, and each of them had a crowd of people at them.

No wonder Shadow Burbia is so prosperous. None of this would even be thought of when it came to the Colony.

"There it is, girls!" Hades cried once we made it to the big shopping district. There was an extraordinary large building in the center of a giant parking lot.

"Welcome to Shadow Burbia's most expensive mall: The Sunlit Shadow Mall!" Hades cried.

Shadow pulled out her wallet and said, "I got 1.9 million on my card. How bout' you, Hades?"

"1.9 million. How much do you have, Fix?" Hades asked. After figuring out that they were talking about coins, I pulled out my credit card, which had, and conveniently said, 2,000 coins on it.

Hades sighed, "That's a little sad. We'll buy you something, okay?"

I looked back at my sad little wallet and replied, "Okay… I don't really think I'll want much." Hades frowned.

"You need a new dress, though," Hades commented

"And a spa treatment," Shadow added.

"She can get that at the mansion. But she should hurry up before Xaeron stops arguing with your brother," Hades said, starting to walk into the mall.

"When's that?" Shadow asked.

"4:56 a.m," Hades informed.

Shadow replied, "So we leave at 4:26 a.m. Okay. It's only 12:00 in the morning right now. So let's get started!"

The mall was filled with many stores and restaurants, all in one place. It even had fountains, a walkin pet store, tons of arcades and a few pharmacies and eye doctors. And, not to mention, the mall then leads to a portal gateway leading to a hospital

"First, let's go to Mary's, then we'll go to EM peach's. Maybe we can buy Darker something so he won't be mad if we're late," Shadow cried.

Shadow nodded in agreement and replied, "Yeah. How about some cheesecake? He loves that."

Hades jumped up and cried, "Yup! Fix, why don't you buy the cake?"

I jumped, mainly because I wasn't paying much attention and replied, "Oh, okay… where do I go?"

"You're not leaving! Just, when we get to the bakery," Shadow said, ruffling my hair.

"Okay then… Please don't do that again," I whined, fixing my hair back up.

We ran around the mall, buying makeup, shoes, clothes and other nick-knacks girls are seemingly into. We even brought me a phone and a little satchel so I could put my stuff inside, if I ever get anything for it. Soon, we arrived at a rich bakery called Lustrian Goods.

"Order the "Golden" and place it to go. We'll be watching," Hades instructed, pushing me slightly.

I gulped and whispered to myself, "O-okay… it's just buying a cake, nothing to be afraid of..."

I entered the bakery. The first thing that hit me was the decorations around the place. There was real necklaces hanging from the ceiling, and the walls were painted a dark shade of purple. What mostly stood out was the painting on the wall.

There was Zatilenia, with her five god and goddess children: the god of intelligence, the god of power, the goddess of foresight, the goddess of light and the goddess of invincibility. But the goddess of invincibility was somewhat familiar… She looked like someone that used to live in the colony…

That's it! She looks like my teacher at the learning facility! She moved out a few years ago, but then she came back to visit me right before the invasion. Could she be the former god of invincibility? What was her name again…? Ms. Azuleno. That sounds fitting for a goddess.

"Are you looking at the goddess of invincibility?" a sudden voice asked me.

I jumped up and spun around to look at a zombie in a green coat, who continued to say, "A lot of people do. But nowadays, she teaches schools around Shadow Burbia about the consequences of being violent and harsh to others. Everyone forgot about her mortal form now that she's a normal zombie."

"Oh… Well, is goddess power… corrupting?" I asked.

"Can be. Depends on the person. Heard the ceremony for the goddess of invincibility and foresight is being held soon. First is the gold vest, and next is the necklace," the zombie answered, looking at Hades, who waved.

"Gold vest?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah. No doubt, Hades is becoming the goddess of foresight, and everyone knows that all too well. They're already praying to her and everything," the zombie said.

I thought for a minute and replied, "She is a sidekick."

The zombie went over to the counter. "Anyways, do you need any help? I do own the bakery."

"You do?" I asked.

The zombie leaned onto the counter and exclaimed, "Yup! Just tell me whatcha need and I'll get it."

"Um… I need the "Golden" to go…?" I said, afraid that I said it wrong.

"Ah, yes. A present for Darker, I see. Would you like a card with it?" the zombie asked, pulling his glasses down. It was then when I figured out what he was trying to say.

"The cake isn't a 'I love you' present! It's a 'please don't be mad', present!" I cried, my facet turning red.

The zombie looked at me knowingly and replied, "Alrighty then, girly. Lemme get your cake. What's your name? I need it for the receipt. No need to pay. It's on me."

"Fix," I replied, rubbing my cheeks in hopes of cooling my face down.

"Last name?" the zombie asked.

"I don't have one," I answered.

"Alright. Wait just a second…," The zombie said, writing my name on a slip of paper and walking into the back of the bakery.

Hades and Shadow came inside. "Did you order?" Hades asked.

I nodded and answered, "Yeah."

Shadow then said, "I hope you didn't order an 'I love you' cake."

I quickly replied, "I didn't! Even if I did, it would be sitting in the fridge until further notice!"

Shadow crossed her arms and looked at me knowingly. "What if he finds it?" I looked down in thought.

"Then I don't know what'll happen next," I replied, my face going straight back to beet red.

Shadow patted my back and said, "I knew you liked my brother."

I stomped my foot and cried, "Shadow!"

Shadow cried back, "Stop denying it, Fixy! You know that you like him!"

"Why are you so mean?!" I cried. Hades burst out into a loud giggle fit.

"Here you go! I wrapped it in a ribbon so it can be a little more convincing," the zombie said, placing the box in my hands.

"That's a beautiful purple ribbon, Kanny!" Shadow exclaimed, playing with it.

"It is, indeed. Have a nice day!" the zombie said, watching us leaving.

"Bye, Kanny!" Hades cried.

One our way back, we found that the streets were now filled with traffic, and an awful lot of it. So, a lot of people were on the sidewalks instead.

"I hate this time of day. It's always at the 3:00 mark in the morning when everyone decides to leave their houses at the same time. We'd better hurry." Hades said, picking me up.

Azul, who was on Shadow's head, had been picked up from the pet palace a few minutes ago, after being ditched by Orchid, and boy, did she look amazing! She apparently had been pampered to a beautiful glow.

It wasn't that long before we reached the giant mansion. Once we entered, we went into the sitting room and unpacked our stuff.

"Darker, my dearest brother! I'm back!" Shadow cried.

There was a moment of silence, until Darker replied, "Welcome back, dear Shadow. I will be down in a few minutes."

I put Azul in my satchel. "So that's what I can use it for!" I exclaimed. Azul rubbed her face against the fabric of the bag.

"It's so soft in here… Good night, everyone!" Azul cried.

"Have a nice sleep, Azul!" Shadow exclaimed. Hades felt her gold vest glowing for a second, then she looked at it, and started cheering.

"What happened?" i asked.

"My vest earned it's goddess power! I'm going to become the developing goddess of foresight in a few days!" Hades cried.

"For real? Cool!" Azul exclaimed.

Shadow then informed, "Now the ceremony for the necklace has to be held at midnight, when time gets corrupt for a split second."

I started to say, "Alright, but-"

Darker came into the room, saying, "Congratulations, Hades."

The giant chomper started dancing and singing, "Thank you! Oh, I'm so happy! I'm Xaeron's little sister now!" she cried, jumping up and down.

"Xaeron's getting two sisters today," I replied.

"Anyways, we brought you 'Golden', Darker," I said, I handing the box to Darker. Darker snapped his fingers and a floating pillow appeared, in which he sat on. Then he opened the box.

"What's a card doing in here?" Darker asked, confused.

All three of us became wide-eyed as Darker opened the card and read it to himself. Then, his face became red.

"Oh god…" Darker whispered awkwardly. Shadow looked at the card for a second and looked at her brother.

"Um… who's it from, dear brother?" she asked, worried.

"It's from… Fix…," Darker said, looked back down at the card.

I was frozen for a moment, then, at the top of my lungs, I screamed, "KANNY!"

"What's going on, Fix?", Darker asked, looking at me.

"Kanny spilled her feelings," Hades said.

"Oh. He's famous for starting relationships," Shadow said.

"It's only been two mornings and a night, and you've felt this way about me?" Darker asked.

"I'm not surprised. You're handsome." Hades said. Shadow frowned at the giant chomper.

"I mean… I just… Yeah…" I replied.

Darker looked at the card again. "Thanks. It… really means alot to me, Fix." I smiled at that.

"Just kiss already!" Shadow shouted, jumping up and down. Darker frowned at Shadow. I was still afraid that he might be saying what I wanted to hear… Why did I want to hear that?

"Get a boyfriend already," Darker hissed back. Hades hissed at that.

"Let me take my time!" Shadow cried back in protest.

Darker face palmed and replied, "Then do the same for me. Come here, Fix. I'll let you taste Golden." I walked over to Darker and looked into the box. It was a golden cheesecake! How was this even possible?!

"It disappoints me that someone from the colony doesn't even know what the best cheesecake on the surface is. Here, take this," Darker replied. He handed me a piece of the cake.

So the cake was covered with something golden… I thought a cake doesn't shine this much!

Gross flew into the room, dragging Orchid behind him.

Darker and Shadow said in unison, "Orchid, you lazy flying lizard."

Orchid roared in protest, "Leave me alone! I can do whatever I want!"

"Who told you that?" Darker said.

"I did!" Orchid snarled.

"Zaria didn't give you permission to disrespect us," Darker replied.

"I have all right!" Orchid cried back.

Gross snorted, "Then get up for yourself. You can fly!" Orchid hissed at the black dragon.

I felt my head get dense, to the point when I had no control anymore.

I went up to Orchid and said, "Stop."

"Fix, you can't-" Orchid began to say

"Stop," I interrupted.

"Fix-" Orchid tried to say again.

"Stop," I interrupted again.

The dragon hissed and backed up, whining, "Is she possessed for something?!"

"Shut up, Orchid," I growled. Everyone looked at me.

"What the hell is going on?!" Orchid cried.

I then said, "Orchid, listen to me. Stop it. I didn't ever give you permission to act this way, and I never raised you to be this way. Is this how you represent me, after all these years?" Orchid was frozen.

"Fix is possessed!" she shouted.

Darker thought for a minute. "The only person who would say that to you would be… Mom?!"

I turned to Darker and said, "Yes."

"Why are you possessing Fix? I thought you can only possess demi-gods…" Shadow asked.

"I am a god. I can go beyond my limits. Now quiet!" I boomed. The two plants were extremely silent after that.

Wait, the god of war is possessing me?! This is such an honor! Although I truly would like my body back.

"I would've came back already, but Zatilenia told me to wait until the new god of invincibility arrives at my goddess statue to free me. You are going to act the way I raised you until I come back, do you hear me, Orchid? You're still my dragon."

"Okay… I'm so sorry…" Orchid whined.

"Don't be. Just don't act like that anymore. You remind me too much of the former Azuleno," I replied.

Orchid cringed. I continued, "You don't want to be compared to her, do you?"

"No!" Orchid cried.

I then barked, "Good. Apologize to your current owners."

"I apologize, Darker and Shadow," Orchid whined.

"It's okay," the two siblings said in unison.

"Oh, and before I go, Darker?" I said, turning to Darker.

"Yes?" Darker answered.

"Do not kill Azuleno. I know how you feel about the goddess power Azuleno receives and how it can corrupt the soul of a lot of people, but Xaeron made a good choice this time," I explained.

"I can hardly believe that," Darker replied.

"I couldn't either, until I looked at her capabilities. Can you promise me this, my sweet son?" I asked.

"Of course," Darker said.

"Thank you. Have fun with your new girlfriend! Don't forget to kiss her!" I cried, blowing a kiss at him. Shadow and Hades started to squeal.

"Mom!" Darker shouted in embarrassment. I stumbled once my brain earned its control back, almost dropping the cheesecake in my hand.

Darker growled, "I hate it when you two do this to me."

Shadow then reminded, "You gotta do it. Mom said so." Darker crossed his arms.

"I'm leaving. Come, Fix," I staggered over to the pillow Darker sat on and climbed on with Azul. Then, Darker teleported to his room.

"Kanny's a real douche," I said once we got there.

"I understand, but he is notorious for starting relationships. He can see deep thoughts, so he'll know who loves who... All this time, I thought you were scared of me. I didn't think you liked me," Darker replied.

"I… do. But I knew we hardly knew each other like that. You wouldn't trust me…" I whined.

Darker patted my head and said, "I could, if we became closer, but you're right. I just don't trust anyone that's from the colony. No offense to you."

"Why?" I asked.

"That tree scarred me with these cracks, and they took away my tears," Darker explained.

"You can't cry anymore?" I asked.

"No."

"That's sad."

Darker shrugged and replied, "It is, but I see no point to crying."

I replied back, "Well, I find it as a way to let your extreme feelings be expressed. Hatred, joy, and sadness."

Darker looked down and said, "I guess that's true, but I only felt those feelings when I'm around my loved ones. ...I swear, I will never lose Shadow."

I gave him a smile a said, "I believe you won't. She's your sister." Darker smiled back at me. It was then when I realized at we were undeniably close. It felt like we were actually about to kiss...

Until that moment was shattered once Shadow shouted, "HEY DEAR BROTHER! Can you share some of your Golden with me?!"

I fainted onto the bed while Darker answered, "I'm not coming downstairs."

"Come on!" Shadow cried back.

"Get up here Shadow!" Darker shouted.

"Can I ride Gross up there?" Shadow asked.

Darker crossed his arms and shouted, "You have four leaves, Shadow!"

"I just got finished shopping!" Shadow reasoned.

"Shadow!" Darker hissed.

"You're a douche!" Shadow cried.

"Yeah, okay. Now get up here!" Darker yelled. Within just a few minutes, Shadow came into Darker's room, panting, "You are the worst."

Darker shrugged and replied, "Alright. I planning on giving you half of the cake, but I'm the worst, so…"

"No!" Shadow cried.

"Then what do you say?" Darker said.

"I'm sorry!"Shadow cried.

"Thank you, dear Shadow. Here you go," Darker said, giving his sister the box. Shadow took the box, which had the half of the cake in there and started eating it.

Darker grabbed Azul and observed her. "She obviously went to the pet palace, didn't she?" he asked, petting her.

Azul snuggled into Darker's scarf. I replied, "Yes. Isn't she beautiful?"

"Of course. I can't wait to see her goddess power form, though," Darker said. I cocked my head to the side.

"What?" I asked, confused.

Shadow explained, "When the new Azuleno is formed after the necklace earns its power, Azul will transform into a fully grown panda. From the looks of it, she'll turn into a War Panda. Those are some elegant creatures. Too bad they only appear in heaven, and they're extremely powerful and aggressive."

Azul nodded slowly and added, "At least I won't be aggressive."

"At least…" Darker replied, setting Azul down, where she crawled back to my shoulder.

"I need to go find Xaeron and talk to him about that next Azuleno," Darker said. Dang it!

"Okay! Be back soon!" Shadow cried. Darker teleported out of the room.

Shadow continued, "Did you guys kiss?"

"No…" I mumbled, disappointed

"That sucks," Shadow replied.

I reasoned, "Well, give us some time, and Darker will warm up to me more. I mean, he's already willing to call me his girlfriend. It won't be long before he likes me more." Did I just say all that? Holy moly!

Shadow replied, "Well, while you're here, why don't you hang out with us? We could even hang out at the pool if you want." Azul stared at Shadow coldly.

I told Azul, "You're not coming, Azul. We wouldn't want to see that beautiful glow to get ruined. Azul perched herself on Darker's bed and laid down, falling asleep.

"Will Darker be okay with this?" I asked.

"Of course. Now, let's go try out your brand new swimsuit!" Shadow cried, grabbing my sleeve and dragging me downstairs, to the outdoor pool.

Within a single hour, just me trying on a swimsuit had turned into a girl's pool party. Then, after we partied for two hours, we left the pool to go back to Darker's room, just to check on Azul. Azul was apparently still sleeping when we got there, probably because she was tired from the pampering… Wait, why was Azul still sleep? Was she just being lazy?

"Azul! Wake up!" I panda twitched a bit, licked her lips and loosened, groaning. I climbed into Darker's bed and shook the panda.

"Azul! You need to wake up!" I cried again. The panda didn't budge a bit, and not only that, she seemed to be avoiding waking up. "AZUL!" I shouted. It was now that the panda jolted up and screamed, scared out of her wits.

The panda felt her body, looked around, and cheered, "It was just a dream! Hooray!" Me and Shadow looked at each other and then looked back at Azul.

"What happened?" I asked. Azul jumped off the bed.

"Don't sleep on the end of Darker's bed. It is so comfortable, it'll make you have a nightmare!" Azul cried.

I gave Azul a confused look and then nodded in agreement, responding, "Okay…," slowly.

Suddenly, Darker teleported into the room with Xaeron, saying, "Thanks for the poor hint, Xaeron."

"Hey! I was told to give you that! Whatever mother says goes, man… Hey, Fix! Nice Swimsuit." Xaeron said. I was wearing a giant, fluffy towel. How could Xaeron see my swimsuit?! Shadow looked at my towel and looked at Xaeron.

Darker glared at the god and said, "What are you trying to say, Xaeron?"

Xaeron shrugged and responded, "Can I compliment a girl once in awhile?"

"You just looked through her towel, you sick prick," Darker responded.

"I did not! Don't you see those swimsuits on tons of chicks?" Xaeron said.

"I don't look at females like that," Darker replied.

"Oh. Well, I was looking at her straps. She's probably wearing the turtle two piece," Xaeron predicted. Shadow looked at me again and nodded.

Azul climbed onto my shoulders. "How much longer until lunch, Darker?" Shadow asked after picking up her beach bag she had brought with her from the pool.

"It's still pretty early in the morning, Shadow. You know that. Plus, you have a watch," Darker reminded.

Shadow rolled her eyes and pulled out her watch that was in her little purse. "8:27 a.m."

"And we eat lunch a 3:00 in the afternoon, remember?" Darker asked.

"That's too many hours!" Shadow complained.

"It's only seven hours, Shadow. If you're hungry now, go eat breakfast," Darker replied. Shadow crossed her arms and started towards the door.

"Whatever. I'm stealing your girlfriend, then," Shadow said, whistling. Orchid came into the room, picked me up, and left with me. Darker crossed his arms.

"That sucks. You said you'd kiss Fix," Xaeron said, plopping onto the bed.

"Yeah. Shadow's just random. Our mother is never random, nor is my dad, so I don't know where she got it from." Darker said, plopping onto the bed with him.

"Aging?" Xaeron asked.

"That can't be it," Darker replied.

Shadow dragged me to the dining room, where the band of Darkness was. Defu was in there, ordering the maids to set the table.

"Good morning, Defu! Making something special, I see!" Shadow exclaimed.

The chomper replied, "Yes! We are making an excellent breakfast to celebrate Hades' goddess power. Also, We can't forget a hopeful breakfast for a better god of intelligence."

Shadow nodded in agreement and replied, "Oh yes, I can't help but notice that, of course. Oh, did you prepare Fix's breakfast?"

"Yes! It is right here. Have a seat, miss Fix! Enjoy!" Defu exclaimed.

Breakfast was the same as last time, loud chatting, jokes being told, and arguments being had that really shouldn't hit my ears, since I'm not officially an adult yet. Once I was finished, Gross, surprisingly on queue, grabbed me and flew me all the way to my guest room.

"Time for our daily ritual! Yay!" Gross exclaimed.

"This is done daily?" I asked.

Gross snorted and replied, "No, I do it at random. I'm only calling it daily because we did it yesterday."

I frowned at the dragon and helped him toss the potato dolls that were in the middle of the room out of the window, just to burn them in the bonfire.

Later on, Darker called me into his room, after I sat in my room for a straight hour, all alone, doing absolutely nothing good with my undead life.

"Dear Fix, why are you by yourself?" Darker asked, worried. I looked down and put my hands behind my back.

"I… I dunno… I just was…" I mumbled, trailing off. Darker shook his head.

"Come, sit. You shouldn't be all alone like that. Maybe we could watch a movie," Darker suggested.

We sat in Darker's bed and watched 4 movies, all while talking and sometimes flirting, from what it seemed like to me. I was leaning on Darker's shoulder at the end of the last movie, which was about a man who loved a woman, but then started to hate her as she became worser.

"Darker?" I asked.

"Hm?"

"I know this might be a little petty to think but, what if… What if Fire was right?" I asked.

"Do you mean about the goddess quarrel?" Darker asked.

"...Yeah, I mean that." I replied.

"I told you Fix, I won't hurt you, even if you do become Azuleno. My mother even told me not to." Darker replied.

"It's not that, but… I don't think I could live being someone so... terrible." I replied.

"Fix, that's nonsense. Sure, the power of Azuleno is corrupting, but it won't change you. Especially not someone as sweet and naive as you."

"But, Darker, all the past Azuleno's were terrible people, and I don't want to be looked down upon, being the one that inherits such a guilty title. I don't want to be Azuleno…" I said.

Darker put his arm around me and said, "Calm yourself, my dear. I sure you'll pull through, regardless of what happens. No one will ever see you as a bad person, okay?" I hugged Darker. I really wanted to kiss him then...

Until the moment was once again crushed like a granola bar. "Dear brother! Can we go shopping?!" Shadow cried from downstairs.

"No, Shadow. You just went early in the morning!" Darker shouted back. Shadow whined loudly.

Darker rolled his eyes and retorted, "Childish. I gotta go take this chick shopping. Do you mind waiting here?" I nodded and watched Darker teleport out of the room.

After a few minutes, I decided to look around. The same weapons decorated the walls, of course, but there was one painting that I probably hadn't seen the first time I actually entered the room.

A painting of Zatilenia sat at the far end of the room, taking up a portion of the wall. No weapons were hanging near it, nor above it. It was just there, sparkling. I, being curious about the constant sparkling of the painting, got up and went over to the painting, almost stumbling from the pain in my legs. Great, it's been a while, and yet the pain I got from that potato incident was coming back.

As I approached the painting, the pain only got worse. It started to feel as if my legs was about to burst. What was going on?!

Fix, stop! Don't move any closer! He's trying to hurt you!

I stopped at my mother's voice… Or was it?


End file.
